How do I delete previous searches?

Clearing your search history is a great way to protect your privacy and security online. When you search on Google, your search queries get saved to your Google account’s search history. This allows Google to personalize your results and recommendations based on your past searches. However, having a long search history also means that anyone who accesses your account can see what you’ve been searching for. In some cases, you may want to delete private or sensitive searches from your history. Fortunately, Google provides simple options for clearing your search history in full or in part. Here’s a comprehensive guide on how to delete your search history on both desktop and mobile.

Why You May Want to Delete Your Search History

Here are some common reasons for clearing your Google search history:

• Privacy – You don’t want other users of your computer or mobile device seeing your personal searches.
• Security – You’ve searched for sensitive topics like passwords, bank accounts, or medical issues and don’t want that search information saved.
• Relevance – Old searches clutter up your history and search recommendations. Wiping the history helps improve new search results.
• Space – A long search history takes up storage space on your devices. Clearing it can free up memory.
• Starting fresh – You want to wipe the slate clean and start building a new search history.

Clearing your search history doesn’t prevent Google from continuing to personalize results based on your location, previous searches, and other activity. However, it can help reduce unintentional personalization from potentially embarrassing or irrelevant past searches.

How to Delete Search History on Desktop

If you primarily use Google search on a desktop computer, here are the steps to clear your search history:

1. Go to the Google Account page by clicking on your profile picture in the top right and selecting “Manage your Google Account”.

2. On the left sidebar, click on “Data & privacy”.

3. Under “Activity controls”, click on “Web & App Activity”.

4. Scroll down and click “Manage Activity”.

5. On the “Manage Activity” page, you’ll first see past searches organized by date. Click on “Delete” at the top to permanently erase your full search history.

6. To delete only partial search history, you can filter the date range or search term using the options at the top. Then select specific searches and click “Delete” to remove them.

7. Finally, click “OK” to confirm that you want to erase your search history.

If you share your computer with other users who are also logged into Chrome, only your personal search history will be deleted using these steps. Other users will need to clear their own search histories separately.

How to Pause Search History

Rather than deleting, you can also pause your search history if you just want a temporary break from tracking:

1. Follow steps 1-4 above to access “Web & App Activity”.

2. Switch the toggle for “Web & App Activity” off. This pauses tracking and will not save new searches to your history.

3. To resume tracking, return to this page and switch the toggle back on. New searches will again be saved from that point forward.

Pausing your history prevents any searches from being added during that time period. But it will not erase your existing history – for that you need to use the delete option.

Clearing Search History on Mobile Devices

The process is very similar on mobile apps for iOS and Android:

1. Open the Google app and tap on your account profile icon.

2. Go to “Manage your Google Account”.

3. Tap on “Data & privacy”.

4. Select “History settings” under “Activity controls”.

5. On the “Web & App Activity” screen, tap the three dot menu icon and choose “Delete activity by”.

6. Select “All time” to erase your full history. You can also delete portions by time period or search term.

7. Tap “Delete”.

As on desktop, other users of your mobile device will need to clear their own search histories separately. Their searches will not be affected when you delete your personal history.

How to Delete Voice Search History

If you frequently conduct searches by voice commands using Google Assistant, those queries also get saved to your web history and account. To manage voice search history:

1. Open the Google Assistant app on your phone.

2. Tap on your account icon in the top right.

3. Go to “Settings” > “Your data in the Assistant”.

4. Under “Web & App Activity”, tap “Manage Activity”.

5. On this screen you can view and delete your full voice search history or filter by date and search term.

6. Tap “Delete” to confirm erasing your voice search records.

This will remove the voice searches from your account history. However, any Google Home device you use will still have those voice queries saved in its on-device history. To delete that, go to the Google Home app > Account > My Activity.

How to Delete Searches on a Shared Computer

When you use a shared or public computer, your Google searches get saved locally in the browser’s search history. For privacy, you’ll want to erase those before logging out:

On Chrome:

1. Click the three dot menu icon > History.

2. Select “Clear browsing data”.

3. Choose “Basic” time range and select “Browsing history”.

4. Click “Clear data”.

On Firefox:

1. Click the three line menu icon > Library.

2. Select “History” > “Clear Recent History”.

3. Choose “Everything” for time range.

4. Click “Clear Now”.

This removes all locally saved search history – but does not affect your Google account history. Log out of your Google account on any shared device to keep searches private.

How to Permanently Delete Search History

Keep in mind that when you clear your search history in Google, it is soft deleted – removed from view but still saved on Google servers for up to 18 months. To permanently erase searches from your account:

1. Delete search history as explained above.

2. Go to mythsaccount.google.com/inactive on desktop or the Google app > Manage your Google Account > Delete your account.

3. Click “Delete Products” and select “YouTube and search history”.

4. Follow prompts to verify and delete your account.

This will immediately and permanently wipe your search history along with other Google account data. You cannot restore it once confirming deletion, so only use this method if you are certain.

Conclusion

It’s simple to delete your Google search history on desktop, mobile, and voice devices. Take advantage of these options to regularly clear your record and protect your privacy. Be very selective about sensitive searches. Also make sure to fully log out of any shared computers and clear the local browser history. With good search hygiene, you can confidently explore the web knowing your Google account won’t retain potentially embarrassing or undesired search terms for very long.

Permanently deleting search history requires deleting your entire Google account. Only do this if absolutely necessary for privacy.

Clearing your history regularly is recommended to protect your privacy, security, and get better search results. Make sure to also delete local browser history on any public computers you use. With good search habits, you can avoid saving searches you want kept private.