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Google makes it easier to delete your search history

Google launched an update today that make sit easier for Google users to delete the search history. The company records search activity for signed-in users and associates it with a user's account.


While it was possible previously to delete certain activity, how that was done was not very straightforward or comfortable.


Users had to open the My Activity page after signing in to their Google account to delete some or even all of the records. The page had no "delete all" button, however, which reduced usability quite a bit.


google delete search activity


Today's change makes things a lot easier as it requires just a click on the "Your data in Search" page to clear the entire search history that Google associates with the account.


control your data in google search


Google added a link to the data management options on its main Google Search page but Google customers may open the link directly as well if they prefer to go there directly.



  1. Load https://myactivity.google.com/privacyadvisor/search in your browser of choice to get started; this opens the "Your data in Search" management page on Google's My Activity website.

  2. Scroll down to "Delete your Search activity" on the page.

  3. Select "Delete all Search activity" to erase the entire history or "Delete last hour" to only erase searches made in the last 60 minutes.

  4. Confirm that you want the records to be deleted by selecting "delete" when the popup opens.


Google reveals underneath the option that selecting delete will erase activity data including search terms and the links that users activated on search results pages.


delete search activity


The popup highlights that Google may keep some Telemetry data, e.g. the number of searches of a user, after the search activity that is on record is deleted.


Users may disable Web & App Activity on the same page to disable the saving of search activity. Doing so affects "all Google service that rely on Web & App Activity" for personalized services.


Google published a video on YouTube that advertises the benefits of recording a user's search activity.


[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvbz5mj6E00]


The changes are available for desktop and mobile search offerings on the Web as of today. Google plans to roll out updates for its Android and iOS applications to integrate the functionality as well. These will roll out in the coming weeks to Google users worldwide.


Closing Words


The improved option to delete search activity, especially the direct link from the main Google Search homepage, will make things easier for Google users and may introduce that option to users who did not know about it before.


Now You: What is your take on the change?


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