3 Simple Ways To Delete Your Google Data

In recent years, Google has gotten a lot more serious about privacy rights and how it shares people’s information. As a result, it’s become easier to take control of our privacy features, including removing personal information we don’t want Google to store.

In this article, I’m going to show you how to delete your Google data. These steps work on both PCs and mobile devices.

Money expert Clark Howard recommends that you take these actions if you have concerns about what Google is doing with your information. Google now organizes your data via three categories:

• Things you’ve done and places you’ve been.
• Info you can share with others.
• Data from apps and services you use.

For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on things you’ve done and places you’ve been.

Here Are 3 Ways To Delete Your Google Activity

Over the last couple of years, Google has given users more control over how they can remove their data, and Clark says he likes the changes.

“You now have the ability to erase history, or at least the history that Google has on you, for periods of time,” Clark says.

Table of Contents: Erase Your Google Data

• 1: Delete Your Google Activity Manually by Item
• 2: Delete Your Google Activity by Date
• 3: Delete Your Google Activity Automatically

Note: You may be asked to verify your credentials to access the data you want to delete.

Option 1: How To Delete Your Google Data Manually by Item

1. On your computer, go to myaccount.google.com and sign in.
2. Click on Data & Privacy in the navigation bar.
3. Click on “Things you’ve done and places you’ve been” or scroll down to that section.
4. Click Web & App Activity > Manage All Web & App Activity.

From the Web & App Activity page, you can scroll through different items and delete them either by clicking on the “X” adjacent to the search icon or by clicking the details link, then the three dots in the top right. Once you click on an item, here’s a screenshot of what it should look like.

Once you confirm your selection, it will delete your Google data item by item.

Option 2: How To Delete Your Google Data by Date

1. On your computer, go to myaccount.google.com and sign in.
2. Under Privacy & personalization, click on “Manage your data and privacy.”
3. Click on “Things you’ve done and places you’ve been” or scroll down to that section.
4. Click Web & App Activity > Manage All Web & App Activity.
5. Click on the three dots next to the Search My Activity search bar.
6. Click on Delete activity by.

A pop-up box will show you four timeframes — last hour, last day, all time, or a custom (date) range — in case you want to delete some activity but keep other information.

Here’s a screenshot of what that looks like.

If you choose to select a date range, just enter the timeframe you want to wipe out, click Delete and it will remove your Google data for that time period.

Option 3: How To Delete Your Google Data Automatically

1. On your computer, go to myaccount.google.com and sign in.
2. Click on Data & privacy.
3. Click on “Things you’ve done and places you’ve been” or scroll down to that section.
4. Click Web & App Activity > Manage All Web & App Activity.
5. Click on Auto-delete.

You should see a pop-up box that shows you the options to automatically delete your Google activity older than three, 18 and 36 months.

Here’s what that looks like.

When you decide which timeframe of data you want to remove, click Next and Confirm to save your choice.

Final Thoughts

Because Google is tracking an enormous amount of your web activity, having the tools to pick and choose the things you want to be removed should enrich your online experience.

When it comes to removing your data from Google, Clark likes the automatic setting because you can set it and forget about it.

Want more protection for your data? Read our in-depth guide on how to protect your privacy.