Google lowers the follower threshold for Search profiles to 35,000

Google has cut the follower requirement for claiming a Google Search profile. Its help documentation now asks for 10,000 subscribers or followers on at least one of YouTube, Instagram, X or TikTok. Robby Stein of Google said on X that the thresholds were being lowered so more creators and publishers could set profiles up, and that Google plans to expand them to more countries; Search Engine Roundtable reported both. Profiles are available in the US, Canada and India, and claimants must still be 18 or over.

Update, 8 October 2026: Profiles were US-only when this was published. On 6 October 2026 Robby Stein, VP of Product for Google Search, opened them to creators and publishers in Canada and India, with Brazil “rolling out soon”, and the help page lists all three countries under the same 10,000 thresholds.

Update, 25 August 2026: The follower requirements were cut twice in August from their original launch thresholds of 100,000 on YouTube, Instagram and X, and 300,000 on TikTok. The first cut, on 13 August, brought YouTube, Instagram and X down to 35,000 and TikTok to 100,000; the second, on 25 August, dropped TikTok again to 35,000, bringing all four platforms level.

Update, 16 September 2026: Google cut all four platforms again, from 35,000 to 10,000, alongside new multi-account support and an updated article view. See Google cuts the Search profile threshold to 10,000 and adds multi-account support.

The point of rechecking is not the profile page itself. Claiming one can create a knowledge panel for a creator who does not have a panel already, or enrich an existing one, which is the entity signal worth having. A bar that has fallen by 90% since launch brings that within reach of a lot of independent publishers and consultants who were correctly told they were ineligible a few months ago.

Before you start a new profile, check whether one already exists for you at profile.google.com. Google auto-generates unclaimed profiles for entities that already hold a knowledge panel, so the profile representing you may predate your interest in it, and claiming the existing one is a different job from creating a new one.

Sources

• Create a new Search profile — Google Search Help
• Google Lowers Subscriber Requirements For Search Profiles — Search Engine Roundtable
• Robby Stein announcing India and Canada — X
• Google Launches Search Profiles for Creators with 100k Followers — Search Engine Journal