Most of us have asked Google to answer our bizarre questions at one point or another, whether it’s the meaning of life or if tin foil can go in the microwave.
When the embarrassment of these late-night ponderings is too much to bear, it’s no secret that users can delete their history in a matter of clicks (or so they thought).
As it turns out, your search data appears to remain on Google unless you take another secret step to rid of it altogether.
The most typical way to erase your previous searches is to hit ‘Control’ and ‘H’ on the keyboard or by clicking the three little dots in the top right of Chrome.
But the hidden feature takes this one step further by deleting data linked to your account that the tech giant may have been holding on to.
Users can delete their entire search histories by accessing a hidden feature on Google
The most typical way to erase your previous searches is to hit ‘Control’ and ‘H’ on the keyboard or by clicking the three little dot on the top right side of Google (pictured right)
To do this, first tap your profile image located in the top right corner of Chrome next to the search bar.
Users should then click ‘Manage your Google Account’, which will lead to a menu with numerous tabs including ‘Data & privacy’, ‘Security’ and ‘Personal info’.
The easiest way to access your web history is to type ‘My Activity’ in the search bar within the page (not the one at the top of the screen).
Clicking the ‘My Activity’ option when it pops up will take you to another page showing all your previous searches.
These can be filtered based on the website used or date searched if you’re keen to take a sneak peek at previous page views.
However, it you’re just keen to erase these searches for good, click the ‘delete’ button.
Users can then choose whether to delete all searches ever made or those looked at in the last day, hour or a custom time range.
Before the deletion takes place, Google will show you a list of the products this includes, whether it be just Chrome or other sites like YouTube.
After clicking past this, you may be asked to provide one final confirmation before the deletion goes ahead.
Google’s ‘My Activity’ tab allows users to alter their location data as well their search history
While this process does delete your history, Google states that other data will be kept for as long as you keep your account in order to help the tech giant improve its services.
‘We keep some data for the life of your Google Account if it’s useful for helping us understand how users interact with our features and how we can improve our services,’ reads Google’s privacy terms.
‘For example, after you delete a specific Google search from My Activity, we might keep information about how often you search for things, but not what you searched for. When you delete your Google Account, the information about how often you search for things is also removed.’
The ‘My Activity’ tab can also be used to alter your location history, with Google providing nearby recommendations and personalised maps to those who provide this data.
This is turned off by default but users can opt in, providing they are over the age of 18.
Google’s advice reads: ‘When you turn on Location History, you may see a number of benefits across Google products and services, including personalized maps, recommendations based on places you’ve visited, help finding your phone, real-time traffic updates about your commute, and more useful ads.’
