A feature to index ChatGPT conversations on search engines like Google was tested, but was removed shortly after.



ChatGPT has a feature called '

Shared Links ' that allows users to share chat content as it is. As an option for Shared Links, OpenAI was testing a feature that would make chat content searchable on search engines like Google only if the user selected it. However, OpenAI announced that it had removed the feature, saying that it 'created too many opportunities for users to accidentally share unintended information.'



Your public ChatGPT queries are getting indexed by Google and other search engines | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/31/your-public-chatgpt-queries-are-getting-indexed-by-google-and-other-search-engines/

Conversations in ChatGPT are not public by default. However, if you have an interesting conversation or want to check the code generated by ChatGPT, you can use Shared Links to share the ChatGPT chat screen directly, instead of copying and pasting the conversation content. To use Shared Links, click the 'Share' button in the upper right corner of the ChatGPT chat screen.



There's also a 'Share' option at the end of the conversation.



When you click 'Share,' a preview of the chat content that will be made public will be displayed. Click 'Copy Link.' Then, like

this link , others can access the URL and view the contents of the conversation.



OpenAI experimentally added the option to 'index in search engines' to the Shared Links feature, in addition to 'share via link' and 'share via social media.' By making it possible to search for the content of other people's discussions with ChatGPT, such as psychological concerns or painful experiences, users were expected to discover insights not available through regular site searches. Only chats set up by users were indexed, and public chats were anonymized, reducing the risk of personal identification.

On August 1, 2025, a few days after the feature began testing, newsletter writer Louisa Jalovsky posted on X that 'sensitive conversations with ChatGPT are public.' Jalovsky wrote, 'Although usernames were anonymous, most people don't expect these conversations to be indexed. They would be very uneasy if they found out that public links to these conversations existed on Google and that others could see them,' and offered advice on how to use the feature to protect their privacy.



According to TechCrunch, users could find other people's conversations on ChatGPT by filtering search results on Google, Bing, and other search engines and including the domain 'https://chatgpt.com/share.'

A few hours after Jalovsky's post, OpenAI's Chief Security Officer, Dane Stuckey, announced that the company had removed the search engine indexing feature. 'We had a feature that allowed users to make their conversations discoverable in search engines like Google. This was a short-term experiment to make it easier for users to find useful conversations. Ultimately, we determined that this feature created too many opportunities for users to accidentally share something they didn't intend to, and we've decided to remove this option,' Stuckey said.

Stuckey said the company is also working to remove any chats indexed before the feature is removed. The changes to the Shared Links feature will be rolled out to all users by August 2, 2025.

An OpenAI spokesperson told TechCrunch, 'ChatGPT chats are not public unless users choose to share them. We've been testing ways to make it easier to share helpful conversations while maintaining user control, but we've ended a short-term experiment to make chats visible in search engine results.'

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