How to Delete Your Google Search History on a PC

How to Delete Your Google Search History on a PC

We spend a lot of time online, whether it be on a PC or a mobile device, searching for information. Most people use Google to find information online, sometimes searching for answers about personal matters that we might not want anyone else to see.
However, everything you search for on Google is tracked and saved. If this makes you feel uncomfortable, or if you just want to prevent other people who use your PC or briefly borrow your phone to do a quick search from seeing your previous searches, there are ways to delete your Google search history.
To begin, log in to your Google account and go to the Google history page (https://history.google.com/history/). Even though you are logged in, you may be asked to re-enter your password.

Your Google search history is displayed on the “History” page, with your search trends displaying at the top of the page. Below the trends, are a check box and a “Remove items” button, with your itemized search history listed below them. To delete all the search history listed on the current page, select the check box and click the “Remove items” button.

A message displays telling you how many items you removed from your history.

NOTE: Not all your search history is displayed on the current page. Search items following those you deleted (going back in time) now display on the current page. Select the check box again to select all the currently displayed items and click “Remove items” to delete them.

If you want to remove specific items from your history that are older than those currently displaying, click the “Older” button on the right side of the screen above the list. There is another “Older” button on the right side below the list, as well.

Removing items using the check box and the “Remove items” button on the main History page can be tedious if there is a lot of history you want to delete. To delete many items at a time, click the gear button in the upper-right corner of the “History” page and select “Remove Items” from the drop-down menu.

On the “Remove Items” dialog box, select an option from the “Remove items from” drop-down list. To delete all of your search history, select “the beginning of time”. Click “Remove.”

You can choose to include history from Chrome and other apps in your Web & App Activity. This means that your Chrome browsing history is saved as well as which apps you use and the data they share with Google. This information allows you to see more personalized results and suggestions and sites or content you looked at in other apps can be included in your Google search results.

If you’ve turned on this option (which we will show you a little later in this article), you can click the “additional Web & App Activity” link at the top of the “History” page to view data about the information collected from Chrome and other apps.

If you don’t want your history to continue to be tracked by Google, you can turn off your search history. You’re actually pausing it, but if you never un-pause it, it’s as good as turning it off.

To pause your search history, click the gear button in the upper-right corner of the “History” screen and select “Settings” from the drop-down menu.

On the “Account history” page that displays, click the “Pause” button.

NOTE: On this page you can select the “Include history from Chrome and other apps in your Web & App Activity” check box to track that information. To find out more about this feature and why you might want to turn it on, click the “Why?” link.

A dialog box displays making sure you want to pause your search history. It explains the benefits of tracking your search history and that you can use Incognito mode to surf anonymously, if you’re using Chrome.

NOTE: If you use Incognito mode so that no history is tracked, do not log into your Google account while in that mode.

If you really want to pause your Google search history, click “Pause” on this dialog box.

You are returned to the “Account history” page. If you chose to pause your search history, the “Pause” button becomes the “Turn on” button, allowing you to turn on your search history again. If you click “Turn on,” a dialog box similar to the one above displays to make sure you want to track your search history again.

When you’re ready to return to the “History” page, click the “Manage history” link.