How to Keep Your WhatsApp Number From Google Search Results
If you use WhatsApp’s Click to Chat feature, your phone number may appear in Google search results.
Click to Chat allows users to create URL links or QR codes that others can use to contact them via WhatsApp, without having to know their phone number or add them to their contacts. This is an extremely handy feature, especially for those who use WhatsApp for business communication, but it makes your phone number publicly searchable on Google.
There is some debate about whether this is intentional or a mistake. Google’s algorithm extracts the phone number from the Click to Chat link metadata, which is then stored in the Google search index. Security researchers called it a “leak,” while Facebook, WhatsApp and Google have made statements for the Threat Post saying this is expected behavior.
It doesn’t really matter if it’s part of a function or an unexpected side effect; the problem is that many WhatsApp users didn’t know that using Click to Chat would add their phone number to the Google search index. There is a reason people try to hide their private phone numbers from the Internet: it is a potential security threat and makes spam calls more likely.
Security researchers have offered suggestions to all three companies that could help keep WhatsApp phone numbers away from Google search results, but none of these changes have been implemented – and may never be.
For now, don’t use Click to Chat if you want to prevent your WhatsApp phone number from appearing in Google’s search index. If you’ve used Click to Chat before, remove all Click to Chat links from public websites. Alternatively, you can look into using a service like Google Voice with WhatsApp if you want to continue using Click to Chat without compromising your personal phone number.