We all know, or at least should have assumed, that Google records your search history. Nelson Minar of Nelson’s Weblog points out that they’re not only recording your search history, but also associating your search history with your Google Account in order to deliver relevant products and advertisements. Here’s how to turn off search history on your Google Account:
- Go to Google’s search history settings page.
- Check off the box next to each feature.
- Press the “Save Settings” button.
There’s also an edit page that allows you to erase your existing search history.
Nelson infers that this feature is on by default only for new Google accounts, and I suspect he’s right since I actually found no history attached to my account, which I’ve had for a few years.
Finally, take note that these actions probably won’t erase your existence from Google’s systems. As the reader comments concerning the same topic on John Battelle’s Searchblog note, Google probably still records quasi-anonymous search data along with their originating IP addresses, which, if necessary, could very well be traced back the searcher.
