How to Track and Control Your Google Activity

We all know that we shouldn’t give Google (or any other online service) too much information about ourselves. But what exactly should we be worried about? In this blog post, we will explore how to track and control your Google activity. From location tracking to web searches and more, read on to learn more about what information Google has on you and how you can limit it.

What is Google Activity?

Google Activity is a feature that allows you to view and control your online activity. You can use it to see what information is being shared with Google, and you can adjust your privacy settings to control what information is shared. You can also use Google Activity to delete your activity history or choose to pause your activity altogether.

How To Track Your Google Activity

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Photo by Solen Feyissa

To track your Google activity, go to your Google account settings and click on the “Data & personalization” tab. On this page, you’ll see a section called “Activity controls”. This is where you can manage what types of activity are saved to your account.

To view your activity, select “Go to my activity.” You can also visit this page by clicking on the three-dot menu in the top right corner of most Google pages and selecting “My Activity.”

On the My Activity page, you can view a history of your:

– Search queries

– Websites visited

– YouTube videos watched

– Google ads clicked on

– App usage

You can also delete individual items from your activity history or choose to delete all of your histories. To do this, click on the three-dot menu next to an item and select “Delete”.

How To Control Your Google Activity

Google activity refers to the data that Google collects and stores about you when you use its products and services. This includes your search history, browsing history, and activity on Google-affiliated sites like YouTube and Gmail. You can view and delete this information at any time by going to your Google Activity page.

To better control your Google activity, consider these tips:

– Regularly review your activity: Check your Google Activity page frequently to ensure that only the information you want is being collected and stored.
– Delete unwanted data: If there’s anything on your Activity page that you don’t want, simply click the “Delete” button next to it.
– Stop unwanted data from being collected: If there’s something you don’t want Google to track, such as your searches or location history, you can turn off the relevant setting in your account.
– Download a copy of your data: By downloading a copy of your data, you can have a backup of everything that Google has on you. To do this, go to your Account page and click “Download Data.”

How To Download Your Data

Assuming you’re signed into your Google account, go to myaccount.google.com and select “Data & personalization.” On the next page, scroll down to “Download, delete, or make a plan for your data.” Select “Create a download” under “Download your data.” Choose which file type you’d like and how much data you want (you can select All of it if you want), then click “Next.” Finally, hit “Create archive” and wait for Google to gather up your information.

How To Delete Your Data

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Photo by Nathana Rebouças

If you want to delete your data, the process is actually pretty simple. Just head to your Google Account page, click on “Data & Personalization,” and then scroll down to the “Download, delete, or make a plan for your data” section. From there, you can either download all of your data or delete it entirely.

If you choose to download your data, Google will give you the option to select which categories of data you want to download. Once you’ve made your selections, click on the “Create archive” button and Google will start processing your request. Depending on how much data you have, this could take a while.

Once your archive is ready, Google will send you an email with a link to download it. The file will be in .zip format, so you’ll need to unzip it before you can access the contents.

If you decide that you want to delete your data instead of downloading it, simply click on the “Delete all” button in the “Download, delete, or make a plan for your data” section. Confirm that you want to delete everything by clicking on the “Delete account and data” button at the bottom of the page. Please note that this action is irreversible.

Google Search History

Assuming you’re signed into your Google account, your search history is kept as a record of your previous searches. This can be useful if you want to remember what you searched for in the past, but it can also be a privacy concern.

To view your search history, go to Google’s My Activity page. You’ll see a list of your recent activity, including web searches, YouTube videos you’ve watched, and more. You can also use the search bar at the top of the page to find specific activity.

If you want to delete some or all of your search history, click the menu button in the top-right corner of the page and select “Delete activity by”. From here, you can choose how far back in time you want to delete your activity and what type of activity you want to remove. Keep in mind that this only deletes your activity from Google’s servers—it doesn’t affect any records that might be kept by your ISP or anyone else who has access to your internet traffic.

YouTube Activity

black and white android smartphone
Photo by Omar Al-Ghosson

If you’re like most people, you probably use YouTube on a daily basis. Whether you’re watching cat videos or keeping up with your favorite YouTubers, YouTube is a great way to consume content. However, did you know that YouTube keeps track of your activity?

That’s right, every time you watch a video or search for something on YouTube, that information is stored in your Google account. This means that if you ever wanted to look back and see what videos you’ve watched or what topics you’ve searched for, you can easily do so.

So how can you view this information? And more importantly, how can you control it?

To view your YouTube activity, simply go to your Google account and click on the “Data & Personalization” tab. From there, scroll down to the “YouTube Search History” section and click on “Manage Activity”. This will take you to a page where you can see all of the videos and searches that YouTube has recorded.

If you want to delete this information, simply click on the trashcan icon next to each entry. You can also choose to pause your YouTube history, which will prevent any new information from being recorded. To do this, simply click on the paused button at the top of the page.

By understanding how YouTube tracks and stores your activity, you can better control your privacy online. So be sure to check out your activity history and decide what level of control feels right for you.

Google Maps

Assuming you’re signed into your Google account, open Google Maps. In the top left corner of the map, tap the Menu icon. Scroll down and tap “Settings.” In the “Personal content” section, tap “Location History is on.” You can then view your location history by tapping “View your current locations,” “View past locations,” or “Manage location settings.” To turn off Location History for your account, tap the switch next to “Location History is on.”

Conclusion

With all of the data that Google has on us, it’s important to know how to track and control your Google activity. Thankfully, there are a few ways to do this. By using the My Activity page, you can see what information Google has collected on you and even delete some of it if you want. You can also use the Activity Controls page to turn off certain types of tracking altogether. And finally, you can download all of your data from Google so that you have a copy for yourself. By taking these steps, you can take back some control over your privacy.

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