How to delete your Google search history
You can delete your Google search history in two ways: clear everything at once, or remove individual searches. The fastest method is to go to myactivity.google.com, click the trash icon at the top left, and choose how far back you want to delete — last hour, last day, last week, all time, or a custom date range. Google will remove those searches from your account within a few minutes.
If you want to delete only certain searches instead of everything, you can find them on the same page, click the three dots next to each search, and select delete. This takes longer if you have many searches to remove, but it leaves the rest of your history intact.
Deleting your search history does not make you anonymous to Google — the company still knows you performed those searches. What deletion does is remove them from the list you see when you log in, and prevent them from being used to personalize your search results and ads going forward.
Key Takeaways
- Visit myactivity.google.com and use the trash icon to delete all searches from a specific time period in one action.
- You can delete individual searches by clicking the three dots next to each one, though this is slower for large batches.
- Deleting your history removes searches from your account but does not hide your activity from Google itself.
- If you turn on auto-delete, Google can remove searches older than 3, 18, or 36 months automatically without you doing anything.
- Clearing your browser history is separate from deleting Google search history and does not affect what Google has stored on your account.
The difference between clearing browser history and deleting Google search history
These are two separate things that often confuse people. When you clear your browser history — by pressing Ctrl+H in Chrome or Firefox, or Command+Y on a Mac — you are removing the list of websites you visited from your computer or phone. This does not touch what Google has stored about your searches.
Google search history lives in your Google account, not on your device. Even if you clear your browser history every day, Google still keeps a record of every search you performed while logged in. That record stays on Google's servers until you delete it from myactivity.google.com.
If you want both gone, you need to do both actions: clear your browser history on your device, and delete your Google search history on your account. One does not do the job of the other.
How to set up automatic deletion of old searches
Instead of manually deleting your history, you can tell Google to delete searches automatically after they reach a certain age. Go to myactivity.google.com, click the three-line menu in the top left, and select "Settings." Under "Auto-delete activity," toggle the button on.
You will then choose how old your searches need to be before Google removes them: 3 months, 18 months, or 36 months. Once you pick a timeframe, Google will delete searches that are older than that age every month without you having to do anything. Newer searches stay in your history until they reach that age.
This is useful if you want to keep recent search history for convenience — so Google can suggest your usual searches — but do not want old searches piling up indefinitely. You can turn auto-delete off at any time by going back to Settings and toggling it off again.
What happens to your search history if you do not delete it
If you never delete your Google search history, it stays in your account forever unless you turn on auto-delete. Google uses this history to personalize your search results — showing you results similar to things you have searched before — and to personalize the ads you see across Google and other websites.
Your search history is also visible to anyone who has access to your Google account. If you share your device with family members or a partner, and they know your Google password, they can see your full search history by visiting myactivity.google.com. This is why deleting sensitive searches is important if you share a device or account.
Google can also be forced to hand over your search history to law enforcement with a court order. Deleting your history does not prevent this if the searches happened recently and Google has not yet purged its backup systems, but it does remove the history from your account where it is easiest for Google to retrieve.
How to prevent Google from storing new searches
You can turn off search history recording entirely so Google does not store new searches going forward. On myactivity.google.com, click the three-line menu, select "Settings," and toggle off "Web & App Activity." This stops Google from recording your searches, YouTube videos you watch, and other activity on Google services.
Keep in mind that turning off Web & App Activity does not delete your existing search history — it only stops new searches from being recorded. You still need to manually delete old searches if you want them gone.
If you turn off Web & App Activity, Google will still see your searches for the purpose of showing you results and ads, but it will not keep a permanent record in your account. You will also lose the convenience of Google suggesting your previous searches or remembering what you looked up before.
Deleting search history on your phone
The process is the same on Android and iPhone: open the Google app, tap your profile picture in the top right, select "Manage your Google Account," go to the "Data & Privacy" tab, and scroll down to "Web & App Activity." Tap it, then tap "Manage all Web & App Activity."
From there, you can delete all your search history or individual searches the same way you would on a computer. You can also turn off Web & App Activity from your phone so Google stops recording new searches. The changes you make on your phone affect your entire Google account, not just that device.
If you use Google on your phone without being logged in, Google does not store that search history in your account. You can search without logging in by opening an Incognito tab in Chrome, which also prevents Google from storing the search in your browser history on that device.
Why you might want to keep some search history
Deleting all your search history removes a useful feature: Google can no longer suggest searches you have done before or show you results tailored to your interests. If you search for the same topics regularly — recipes, local news, sports scores — having that history means Google can predict what you want faster.
Search history also helps you find things you looked up in the past. If you remember searching for something weeks ago but cannot recall the exact words, you can scroll through your history on myactivity.google.com and find it. Once you delete a search, you cannot recover it this way.
A middle ground is to delete only sensitive searches while keeping the rest, or to use auto-delete so old searches disappear but recent ones stay. This gives you the convenience of personalization without an indefinite record of everything you have ever searched.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does deleting my search history make me anonymous to Google?
No. Deleting your search history removes those searches from your account, but Google still knows you performed them. The company retains this information in its internal systems and can still use it for purposes like improving its services. Deletion only removes the history from the list you see when you log in.
If I delete my search history, will Google stop showing me personalized ads?
Not when ready. Google uses many signals beyond search history to personalize ads, including your location, device type, and activity on other websites. Deleting search history will reduce personalization over time as Google has less recent data about your interests, but ads will not stop being targeted to you.
Can I delete search history from a specific website or app?
You can delete individual searches one at a time by clicking the three dots next to each one on myactivity.google.com, but there is no way to delete all searches from one website at once. If you want to remove all traces of visiting a particular site, you would need to delete each search manually or delete your entire history.
What if I forgot my Google password and cannot access myactivity.google.com?
You can recover your Google account by going to accounts.google.com/signin/recovery and following the steps to verify your identity. Once you regain access to your account, you can then delete your search history. If you cannot recover your account, you will not be able to delete the history associated with it.
Does using Incognito mode prevent Google from storing my searches?
Incognito mode prevents your browser from storing the search in your device's history, but if you are logged into your Google account while using Incognito, Google still records the search in your account. To prevent Google from recording searches entirely, you must either log out of your Google account or turn off Web & App Activity in your account settings.