Twitter's restrictions mean tweets no longer appear high on Google Search results

Twitter's recent restrictions on viewing its content have affected its presence on Google, as tweets no longer show up at the top of the search engine's results.

This is the result of the search engine's bots being unable to crawl through Twitter's website, preventing it from displaying results, a Google representative said.

Web crawling is an automated process that copies pages to be processed by a search engine. The pages are indexed so they can be searched more efficiently.

“We’re aware that our ability to crawl Twitter.com has been limited, affecting our ability to display tweets and pages from the site in search results,” Lara Levin, a representative at Alphabet-owned Google, told The National.

“Websites have control over whether crawlers can access their content.”

The development was first reported by industry tracker Search Engine Roundtable, which noted that Google Search began showing fewer tweets over the weekend, at one point by more than 50 per cent, from 471 million Twitter URLs on Friday to 227 million on Monday.

Normally, adding “Twitter” or “tweets” to a search query on Google Search will return top results containing tweets.

However, queries with those keywords run by The National show that tweets no longer appear at the top of the Google search results.

When tweets began disappearing from search results there was speculation it was retaliation for Mr Musk's refusal to pay a bill for Google Cloud's services.

San Francisco-based Google has not publicly commented on Mr Musk's moves. Twitter remains unresponsive to media requests for comment.

Google blocking tweets means Twitter would practically become invisible on the world's biggest search engine, which commanded nearly 93 per cent of the global market as of April, data from Statista showed.

That means tweets will reach a smaller number of users and could counter Mr Musk's desire to widen engagement on his platform.

This would also prevent users from immediately viewing important content coming from Twitter, one of the most widely-used channels for news, information and updates.

Last week, Twitter began requiring users to have an account and be logged in to view user profiles and tweets, a move Mr Musk claims will prevent data from being “pillaged so much”.

We’re aware that our ability to crawl Twitter.com has been limited, affecting our ability to display tweets and pages from the site in search results

Lara Levin,
representative at Google

Unregistered users who want to view a Twitter profile will be prompted to log in or sign up, while those attempting to view tweets will be greeted with the “Something went wrong. Try reloading” message.

Shortly before that, Mr Musk announced that Twitter was temporarily limiting the number of tweets people can read in a day, as thousands of users reported problems getting to the website.

Verified accounts were initially limited to reading 6,000 posts a day, Mr Musk said. Unverified accounts were limited to 600 posts a day with new unverified accounts limited to 300, he added.

The temporary reading limitation was later increased to 10,000 posts per day for verified users, 1,000 posts per day for unverified and 500 posts per day for new unverified users, Mr Musk said in a separate post.

The moves were the latest in a long list of game-changing moves the social media platform has enforced since Mr Musk's $44 billion takeover in October.

Mr Musk said the changes, including introducing paid tiers for users and laying off thousands of employees, were aimed at boosting user numbers and increasing Twitter's bottom line.

Red flags

Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.

Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching

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Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.	United States
2.	China
3.	UAE
4.	Japan
5	Norway
6.	Canada
7.	Singapore
8.	Australia
9.	Saudi Arabia
10.	South Korea

SPECS

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War 2

Director: Ayan Mukerji

Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana

Rating: 2/5

8 traditional Jamaican dishes to try at Kingston 21

Trench Town Rock: Jamaican-style curry goat served in a pastry basket with a carrot and potato garnish
Rock Steady Jerk Chicken: chicken marinated for 24 hours and slow-cooked on the grill
Mento Oxtail: flavoured oxtail stewed for five hours with herbs
Ackee and salt fish: the national dish of Jamaica makes for a hearty breakfast
Jamaican porridge: another breakfast favourite, can be made with peanut, cornmeal, banana and plantain
Jamaican beef patty: a pastry with ground beef filling
Hellshire Pon di Beach: Fresh fish with pickles
Out of Many: traditional sweet potato pudding

Superliminal%20

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

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Dr Nawal Al-Hosany: Why more women should be on the frontlines of climate action

Shelina Janmohamed: Why shouldn't a spouse be compensated fairly for housework?

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Dunki

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Specs

Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request

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What drives subscription retailing?

Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.

The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.

The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.

The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.

UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.

That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.

Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.

RESULTS

2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (Dirt) 1,000m
Winner: AF Mozhell, Saif Al Balushi (jockey), Khalifa Al Neyadi (trainer)

2.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Majdi, Szczepan Mazur, Abdallah Al Hammadi.

3pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: AF Athabeh, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel.

3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: AF Eshaar, Bernardo Pinheiro, Khalifa Al Neyadi

4pm: Gulf Cup presented by Longines Prestige (PA) Dh150,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Al Roba’a Al Khali, Al Moatasem Al Balushi, Younis Al Kalbani

4.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh40,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Apolo Kid, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muahiri

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Tips for job-seekers

Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.

David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East

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