When you stop and think about it, you may be shocked to realize that the verb “to google” was only added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2006 — a mere seven years ago! Now that it has become such a dominant force, we all google (search for) things and topics through the Google search engine probably countless times every single day.
Here’s an important newsflash — unless and until you clear or disable your google search history, EVERY SINGLE THING you’ve searched for in the past several years, including the date and time it was searched for, is saved! It’s also cross linked with YouTube, Google Maps, and any other Google services you may use. Another thing to think about is this: how many times have you let a friend or family member use your computer to do “a quick search” of something? Their searches would be listed under your account! That may seem to be a slight invasion of privacy to some, to say the least. But the good news is, there is something you can do about it, and I suggest that you do.
Here are the current steps to follow for managing your search history:
- To see what is in your Google history, go to https://www.google.com/history and sign in with your Google account information. You’ll see a list of everything you’ve ever searched for with Google.
- You can browse your history using the navigation buttons at the bottom of the page.
- See anything in your Web History that you’d like to delete? If so, click the checkbox next to the item and click the “Remove” button.
- Want to delete everything in your Web History? Click the “Remove all Web History” button, and whoosh — it’s gone.
- Want Google to stop tracking your searches in your Web History? Click the gear button in the top right corner, click “Settings” and click “Turn off.”
For those few of you who may not be signed in to an actual Google account, you’re still being tracked through a cookie in your browser. Please see our previous article about clearing your cookies for assistance with that.