When you search on Google, your past searches and other info are sometimes incorporated to help us give you a more useful experience.
For example, if you search for chocolate cake, and then search again for “how to make,” Google might be more likely to predict that you’re searching for “how to make chocolate frosting.” These predictions are based on your past searches to give you better results and help you pick up where you left off.
You can also get personalized recommendations for events, movies and shows to watch, web pages in your Discover feed and more. Depending on your Activity Controls, these recommendations are based on activity saved to your Google Account such as:
- Your Search history on Google
- Results or ads from Search that you click
- Discover content you like or dislike
For most of your searches, you’ll get the same results as anyone else who searches the same query from the same location.
When you’re signed in to your Google Account, there are some features in Google Search that could show personalized content. Here are a few examples:
- Web pages recommended in Discover on the Google app home screen
- TV shows and movies with searches like “what to watch”
- Events with searches like “things to do this weekend”
- Autocomplete predictions in the search box
- Your related activity when you search for the same topic as a past search
This personalized content can be based on your Web & App Activity, which includes your Search history. You can turn Web & App Activity off anytime in Activity Controls.
Some of these features might also work if you’re signed out, like autocomplete predictions related to your recent searches. Learn how autocomplete predictions work.
- Your Google Account comes with built-in security designed to detect and block threats like spam, malware, viruses, and hackers.
- Your activity is stored securely, using industry-leading encryption.
- Each Google Account has its own activity. If you have multiple Google Accounts, activity from each account is kept separate.
- We do not sell your personal information to anyone.
- When advertisers bid on keywords and other criteria, Google serves ads to users without disclosing who those users are. Although this relies on Google knowing some things about you like the search term you entered and your interests, the advertiser only knows that their targeting criteria was met, but never which users met it.
Control & manage Search history saved to your Google Account
When you search on Google with Web & App Activity turned on, Google saves activity like your Search history to your Google Account. You can control and manage the Search history saved to your Google Account in My Activity. For example, you can:
- Manually delete part or all of your Search history
- Automatically delete your Search history after a period of time, like 3 months or 18 months
- Pause saving your Search history
- Choose what data is saved in your Google Account with your Activity Controls
Learn how to control & manage your Search history.
Manage Search history saved on your device
Your Search history might also be saved on your device. This can include:
- History that’s stored by your browser
- Google app searches saved while signed-out of your Google Account
- Recent activity in the Google search bar
- Recent search queries in the Google app
Learn how to control & manage your Search history.
Tip: You can also search in Incognito mode on Chrome and the Google app, or use private browsing modes on other browsers. Learn how Chrome Incognito keeps your browsing private.
Download your Search history saved to your Google Account
You can also download your Google data at any time, which includes your Search history as part of your My Activity data. Learn how to download your Google data.