How to clear your Google search history from your Google Account and on various web browsers

• You should clear your Google search history both from your Google Account and on various web browsers.
• You can quickly clear your Google search history from desktop browsers as well as from a mobile device with these steps.
• By adjusting the settings of your Google account, you can dictate what type of search data Google will maintain in the first place.

When you delete your Google search history, you remove all sorts of information that could potentially be used by shady characters. Beyond the funny videos, news stories, trivia, and other content, think of how many times you have searched for an address, a phone number, information about an employer, and other data that could help a hacker steal your identity, find you in person, or other unwanted outcomes.

From your Google Account settings, you can also control the types of searches Google saves in the first place.

Note: Google as a company will still maintain data on much of your search history, logging how often you search for certain topics, for example. While perhaps disquieting, at least know that any data they maintain even after you delete your search history will never be openly displayed on your computer or mobile device.

Here's how to clear your Google search history from your Google Account and on web browsers like Safari and Google Chrome.

How to clear your Google search history from your Google Account on a computer

To fully delete your Google search history, you need to do so directly from your Google Account. Simply clearing your browser history won't erase all the info that Google tracks and saves to your account. Here's how to delete past search history and future search history from your Google Account.

To delete past Google search history:

1. Open up any browser, go to Google.com, and log into your account.

2. Once signed in, click the Google apps icon in the top-right corner of the Google homepage. The icon looks like a square mosaic containing 9 small squares.

3. In the drop-down menu, click Account.

4. Click Data & privacy from the sidebar menu on the left side of the screen.

Quick tip: You can also click Manage your data & privacy in the Privacy & personalization tile in the center of the page, which will take you to the same screen as clicking the Data & privacy tab.

5. At the bottom of the History settings section, click My activity.

6. To delete search activity one by one, click the "X" icon in the top-right corner of the activity listing, and select Delete in the pop-up.

7. To delete multiple or all search history at once, click the Delete button, located underneath the searchbar.

8. In the pop-up, you can choose what content you want to delete: Last hour, Last day, Always, or Custom range.

To turn off Google's ability to track your future search history:

1. Open up any browser, go to Google.com, and log into your account.

2. Once signed in, click the Google apps icon in the top-right corner of the Google homepage. The icon looks like a square mosaic containing 9 small squares.

3. In the drop-down menu, click Account.

4. Click Data & privacy from the sidebar menu on the left side of the screen.

5. In the History settings section, click Web & App Activity.

6. At the top of the next page, click the blue sliding bar beside Web & App Activity to turn off tracking.

7. In the pop-up, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click "Pause."

Now the sliding bar beside Web & App Activity should be greyed out, instead of blue.

8. You can also turn off your Location History and YouTube History. Return to the Data & privacy page and, underneath the Web & App Activity option, click Location History or YouTube History. Follow the same process above to click the blue sliding bar on each respective page to turn off tracking.

How to delete your Google search history from your Google Account on a mobile device

1. Go to Google.com in your mobile browser and make sure you're logged in to your Google account.

2. Tap the three horizontal lines at the top-left of the Google homepage.

3. Tap the words Your data in Search.

4. On the next page, scroll to the bottom of the Your Search history section and select Manage your Search history.

5. On the next screen, you can delete activity listings one by one by tapping the "X" icon in the top-right corner of each listing. To mass delete your search activity, tap the blue Delete button at the top of your search history. In the pop-up, you can choose to Delete today, Delete custom range, Delete all time, or turn on Auto-delete.

How to delete your browser search history on a computer

For added security and privacy, you can also delete your browser history, which will include any Google searches tracked directly through your browser.

On Safari:

1. Start by opening up the Safari browser. On the task bar at the top of the screen, click the word History.

2. At the bottom of the drop-down menu, hit Clear History.

3. Select the range of stored searches you wish to delete: the last hour, today, today and yesterday, or all history.

4. Click Clear History.

On Google Chrome:

1. Start by opening up the Chrome browser, and at the task bar at the top of the screen, click History.

2. Click Show Full History in the drop-down menu.

3. In the web page that opens up, click Clear browsing data on the left side of the screen.

4. On the next screen, select from the Time Range menu how much of your search history you wish to expunge, and make sure to note the boxes below that allow you to customize what you remove, from browsing history to cookies to cached images.