How to delete your Google Search History

Wondering how to get rid of your Google search history and browsing cache? Don’t worry, this detailed guide will help you learn how to delete your Google search history permanently.

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how to delete your google search history

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Is Deleting Google Search History Enough?

Some people have this misconceived notion that if they delete web search history from their browser periodically, it would be enough to keep them private. No more history, no proofs left, right? Well, it’s not as simple as you believe.

In the growing age of digital optimization, it is not enough to delete browsing history. You should also know how to clear Google search history since it helps you optimize your privacy. And, it can protect you from stumbling into embarrassing situations.

For a moment, can you recall what you were searching a decade ago? Obviously not, but here’s a surprise; Google does. Google Web and App History is keeping a track of all your searches since 2005. Anyhow, there’s nothing to fret upon as you can always find a solution. Just to add to your smartness, clearing your internet history from your browser will not delete search history from Google’s servers.

To make it easier for you, this guide will provide you in-depth details on how to delete history on Google, how to manage your Google Activity and what happens next.

Learn what are Super Cookies and how to delete them.

How to Delete Google Search History

  1. Sign-in to your Google Account.
    2. clear browsing history
  2. Head towards your Google App and Web Activity section and click Manage Activity.
    3. clear browser history
  3. At the top right, click three dotted lines and select Delete activity by from drop down box.
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  4. Choose the time period that you don’t want Google to remember or you can also select All time to erase your complete history.
    5. view search history

You'll get a confirmation notification from Google stating your history has been deleted.

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How to Download Your Google Search History?

You can also download an archive list of your Google search history before proceeding to delete it all the way for future use and to use the downloaded history on other accounts too. Follow the below steps to do so:

  1. Begin by signing into your Google account.
    2. how to clear browsing history
  2. Head over to My Activity and you’ll be prompted with the following page.
    3. delete all history
  3. Click the three-dot option in the top right section where you’ll find ‘Other Google Activity’
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  4. Once there, scroll down to ‘Download your data from My Activity’ and click ‘Download your data’.
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  5. You’ll be taken to a new page where you’ll get the option to either select or deselect the data/archives you want to download. Click ‘next step’.
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  6. You’ll land on ‘Customize Archive Format’, where you’ll have the option to select Export Type and File Type and Size. Click ‘Create Achieve,’and your file will begin downloading.
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How to Delete Google Search History on Android?

  1. Open Chrome on your Android device and go to myactivity.google.com.
  2. Tap on the 3 horizontal lines and select Delete Activity by.
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  3. Select the time frame from given options. (Last hour, last day, all time, Custom Range).
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  4. The selected activity and history will be deleted from your account.
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How to Delete Google Search History on iPhone?

  1. Open Chrome or Safari on your iPhone and go to myactivity.google.com.
    2. open safari and visit google activity
  2. Tap on the 3 horizontal lines and select Delete Activity by.
    3. tap on 3 horizontal lines
  3. Choose the date range you want to delete.
    4. select date range
  4. After tapping on delete, a warning popup will appear. Tap on Ok to delete your Google search history on iPhone for good. Remember, the deleted items can’t be recovered!

How to Delete Google Search History on iPad?

  1. Open Chrome or Safari on your iPad and go to myactivity.google.com.
  2. Tap on the 3 horizontal lines and select Delete Activity by.
  3. Tap on All products and select Search.
  4. Below Delete by Date, tap the down arrow and select All Time.
  5. After tapping on delete, A warning popup will appear. Tap on Ok to delete your Google search history on iPad. Remember, the deleted items can’t be recovered!

How to Manage Your Google Activity?

In case you are wondering how to view search history or any other activity, you can always do this through Google privacy settings. All you need to do is sign into your Google account and head to My Activity located in your privacy settings. Here, you’ll find all your digital activities routed via Google services and products like Chrome, YouTube and Search.

Anyhow, on the My Activity page, your activities will be listed in a chronological order and you have the option to customize the activities.

How to Disable or Delete “My Activity” in Google Account?

If you don’t want to limit your privacy to searches alone and want to hide (permanently) all your Google activities, you might want to learn how to delete “My Activity” in Google or simply turn off the activity tracking mechanism.

Switch Off Tracking in “My Activity”

  1. Go to the My Activity page
  2. Click the Menu (⋮) to go to “Activity Control“
  3. Toggle-off all the services that you don’t want Google to track

Delete “My Activity” History in Google Account

  1. Visit the My Activity page
  2. Click to go to “Delete Activity by“
  3. Change Date to “All time” and products to “All Products“
  4. Click Delete

Why Google Tracks your Activity?

Whatever you want to do online is your choice and it’s your personal matter. Keeping tabs on you, especially without your knowledge, is not at all ethical.

As per Google: Google keeps the track record of your search history to create your profile leveraging your search results. It helps the search engine become more relevant while answering your search queries and exposes you to more relevant searches and options.

All it needs is your habits, preferences and interests that can be easily explored via your browsing history. Basically, they don’t need it to cause any sort of harm to you but it does not eliminate the fact that you are sharing your privacy with someone else.

Enhance Your Online Privacy

Even if you delete or disable your history, you are not invisible to Google, especially if you have a Google account for various Google apps and services, such as Gmail, Android, and YouTube.

It’s nearly impossible to be invisible to Google but you can be prudent. You can do this by eliminating all Google apps and services from your daily web use and use search engines, like DuckDuckgo, that don’t track your search activity.

To step up your online privacy game even further, you should get an Anonymous VPN like PureVPN since it allows you to stay secure by encrypting your online activity. It changes your IP Address, not allowing your ISP provider to keep a track of your online activity and builds a strong wall between you and those looking for your online activity. It is also advisable to get TOR along with a VPN Service to further aid in keeping your online browsing activities private

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Don’t forget, deleting your internet history optimizes your online privacy but also has some drawbacks. Your preferences will no longer matter and you can view broader search results but on top of that, your favorite search results will not appear on the top.

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