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Want to stop advertisers, hackers, or nosey family members from peeking at your online search history? Here’s how to clear Google search history and delete Google’s record of whatever you get up to while you're logged into your Google account. Then, protect your privacy even further by installing anti-tracking software to hide your online fingerprint and avoid targeted ads.
The easiest way to delete Google search history on a PC or Mac computer is by going to your browser’s history settings. The following instructions are for Google Chrome, but the process for clearing your browser history is similar in most browsers.
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Here’s how to delete your Google search history and other web activity in Google Chrome:
Open Chrome and select Options, the three vertical dots in the top right.
Hover over History in the drop-down menu and select History from the list of options.
Click Clear browsing data on the left-hand menu to delete all your Google search history and other browsing data stored on your device.
Check the Browsing history box and click Clear data. (To delete your browser cookies or clear your cache, check the other boxes here.)
The above steps will clear your browser’s Google search history, but your online activities are still tracked in your Google account history if you’re logged into your Google account. That includes all your searches, the websites you’ve visited, and the videos you’ve watched. And it also includes the real-world places you went to if your location history was turned on.
Here’s how to delete your Google search history:
Go to Google’s My Activity page (make sure you’re logged into your Google account).
Click the Delete button below the “Search your activity” field.
Choose the time period you’d like to delete your data. All time will delete all your Google history.
Choose the Google products (or types of activity) to delete using the checkboxes, and then click Next.
Confirm you want to clear your Google search history by clicking Delete. You can review your recent searches and activity here.
You’ll see a confirmation that you’ve successfully deleted your Google searches. Click Got it and you’re done.
Check out our dedicated guide for more about how Google tracks your activity and what Google does with your data. And learn how to download your Google data.
Even after deleting your PC or Mac Google history as well as your Google account search history, your search and other browser history records will still be saved locally on other devices you’ve used.
Here’s how to clear your Google search history on an Android device:
Follow these steps to delete your history of searches made using Android’s Google search app:
Open the Google app on your phone and tap your profile image or initials in the top right
Tap Search history.
Tap Delete. To delete all of your search history, tap the Delete all time option in the drop-down menu.
Select which activities you want to delete, or check the Select All box to delete your Google searches completely. Finally, tap Delete in the bottom of your screen to complete the process.
Here’s how to erase Google history on your Android device using the Chrome browser:
Open Chrome on your Android device, tap the three dots in the top right, and select History.
Tap clear browsing data and make sure Browsing history is checked. Then, select your desired time range (tap All time to delete all data), and tap Clear data.
You’ll need to repeat this process for any other browsers you use on your Android device. The procedure will be similar to the steps outlined above.
Clearing all Google searches from your device is an important part of cleaning up your iPhone, and it can help strengthen your privacy. If you use the Google app to delete all Google searches from your iPhone or iPad, the process is identical to the steps listed above. But the steps for Chrome are a little different on iOS devices.
Here’s how to clear your Google search history on iPhone:
Open Chrome and tap the three horizontal dots at the bottom of the screen.
Tap History and then tap Clear Browsing Data.
Choose the time range for the browsing data you want to clear. To erase your Google history completely, select All time. You can also select “Cookies, Site Data” and “Caches Images and FIles” to delete cookies and clear the cache on your iPhone.
Tap Clear Browsing Data to confirm.
Learn more about clearing the cache and cookies on your iPad.
Google allows you to periodically clear Google search, web, and app activity — every three, 18, or 36 months. This includes all activities you do on Google services (including Maps, Search, and Play) so only set this up if you’re sure you want all this data to be automatically deleted.
Here’s how to set up auto-delete in the Google app:
Open the Google search app on your device and tap your profile image or initials. Then tap Search history.
Tap Auto-delete followed by Auto-delete activity older than. Now choose your desired time period and tap Next to complete the process.
While you can use anonymous browsing or set up a VPN for added online privacy, Google will still be able to track some of your online activities. To further limit what Google can track, configure Google settings as follows:
Go to My Activity.
Click the On button under Web & App Activity to stop Google tracking your searches and online browsing. (If it says Off, you’ve already disabled web and app tracking.)
Now select Turn off under Web & App Activity.
Finally, click Pause to complete the process.
And that’s it — Google Web & App Activity tracking is now disabled. While you’re in My Activity, you may want to boost your privacy even further by turning off your location history and YouTube history as well.
Regularly deleting your Google search history helps to safeguard your privacy and security, but it doesn’t prevent browser fingerprinting and other advanced web tracking techniques. That’s where a specialized privacy app like Avast AntiTrack comes in.
Along with automatically clearing your browsing history and cookies, Avast AntiTrack covers your digital breadcrumbs by detecting and blocking tracking attempts. And it disguises your online profile to help prevent websites and advertisers from snooping on your internet activity and hitting you with targeted ads. Download Avast AntiTrack today to regain control of your online privacy.
If you’re having trouble deleting your Google search history, it could be because you’re using an older version of Chrome. If so, update to the latest version and try again. If you’re already using the latest version, try refreshing the page and logging out. Then log back into your Google account and go through the steps to clear your Google search history again.
Yes, you can delete specific searches or individual items from your Google web search history. When you go to your Google account to clear your Google search history, you can view your individual searches and delete selected items. You can also delete individual items from your browser history.
You can delete all your browsing data except your passwords by leaving Cookies and other site data unchecked when deleting your browser history. But you might want to use a good password manager. That way, you can clear all your browser data without worrying about losing your passwords.
If you created your account after June 2020, Google keeps your search history for 18 months before automatically deleting it. For older accounts, Google keeps search history indefinitely unless you take steps to manually delete it or set up an auto-delete schedule. No matter when your account was created, Google automatically deletes location-history data after 18 months.
To permanently delete your Google account, click your Google account photo or initials in the top right of the screen and select Manage your Google Account. Click Data & privacy from the left-hand menu, scroll to More options, and click Delete your Google Account.
Before your account is permanently closed, you’ll have the option to download your Google data. Once you’ve backed up any data you want to store locally on your device, scroll to the bottom of the deletion page, check the confirmation boxes, and click Delete Account.
While Google uses your data to improve their services, they also share some of your data with advertisers, which helps them with personalized ads based on your browsing behavior. Your browsing and search history may also end up with data brokers. Deleting your Google search history and other web activity data can help prevent price discrimination and reduce your exposure to security threats such as data breaches.