Post visibility edit from Connections only to Public does not propagate to search index

Answer

Changing a post's visibility from Connections only to Public does update the access control list, but it does not retroactively make the content eligible for immediate external search indexing or guaranteed feed delivery to non-connectors.

Confirmed Behavior

• The UI permits broadening visibility for most posts, though mobile and web clients may show inconsistent success messages due to eventual consistency.
• The backend ACL updates to PUBLIC, which removes authentication requirements for the post URL.
• Re-shares and comments inherit the modified visibility, so they become accessible to non-connectors if the edit succeeds.

Search Index Propagation

External search engines treat the post as publicly crawlable after the edit, but indexing is not instantaneous. Google, Bing, and other crawlers must discover and process the URL, which typically takes hours to days depending on crawl frequency.

Feed Delivery to Non-Connectors

Non-connection followers who missed the original publish event will not see the post in their feed automatically. Feed ranking prioritizes recency; a visibility change does not trigger a new push notification or feed injection. The post may appear for users who explicitly visit the author's profile or search for related content.

Platform Differences

Web and mobile clients can exhibit different outcomes due to regional data sync delays. The UGC Posts API (for approved partners) typically reflects the change immediately in the visibility field, but UI-facing tools may lag.

Verification Steps

1. Open an incognito browser window and attempt to access the post URL without authentication to confirm Public status.
2. Use a search engine site: operator with unique keywords from the post to check for index propagation.
3. If partner API access is available, query the UGC Posts endpoint to verify the visibility field value.

Key caveat: Even after successful editing, the post's reach remains constrained by feed ranking algorithms. A post edited to Public days after publishing is unlikely to resurface prominently in follower feeds.