How to Stop Google from Storing Your Data
As we all know by now, Google collects data as you are searching the web. Every search that you do Google gathers bits of data about you to provide more relevant search results. The bad part about that, is it can also direct marketing ads to you based on your personal search criteria. Being tracked may not but such a good idea right now with all of the Cyber hacking going on around the world.
For example. Have you ever noticed that when you search for something, lets say ‘vitamins’ in Google. The next thing you know, you are getting emailed ads about vitamins sales. Coincidence? Nope….read on.
- If you are ok with this and don’t mind your data being stored by Google, then do nothing.
- If you do NOT like the idea of this, you can turn this OFF in Google settings.
How to Turn Off Data Tracking in Google
- Open a NEW tab in Google and break it out on a different monitor so you have these instructions on a separate page. (If your computer does not have multiple monitors we can fix that!)
- Log into your Google Account, on the upper right Manage your Google Account.
- On the upper left click on Data and Privacy.
- Scroll down to Things you’ve done and places you’ve been.
- Under See and delete activity, click on View All. There are many settings here which you can go through, but for now click on Web and App Activity.
- Pause here for a moment and look at what is on this page. Look familiar? You will see everything that you have searched for on your phone or on Google, notifications that you have received and much more.
- If you are OK with Google storing this info it will make for slightly faster searches, you do not have to do anything. If you are NOT OK with having your history stored and tracked, go BACK one page and Turn Off Web and App Activity.
To automatically delete activity after a certain period of time:
- If you have Web and App Activity turned OFF, this setting is disabled. If you would like to try this vs turning off completely, that is your choice.
- On the upper left, click on Delete Activity By
- Select your preference here which can be a date range, or Auto Delete after a certain period of time.
PS: Don’t forget about using Incognito Mode every single time you open Google ! For more on this topic and other ways you can protect your personal data, see Online Security on our site.
