Google may know you better than your friends and family do.
Of course, each time you use Google services like search, Gmail, Drive, YouTube, and Google Maps, you share information about yourself that Google can share with advertisers to tailor their ads.
If you have a thing for fashion, you’ll notice more advertisements for things like high-end clothing brands. If travel is your jam, you’ll probably encounter more airline ads than someone who doesn’t. This is because Google has many ways to find out as much it can about you.
As reported by Business Insider, there is a way to find out exactly what Google is watching about you. You just have to find your way to a page called “Web and App Activity.” Taking it a step further, you can visit a site called “Ads Settings” and find what Google thinks it knows about you and actually change what it’s telling advertisers about you.
Here’s how:
To find your “Web & App Activity” page, you must be logged into Google. One you’re logged in, go to “https://history.google.com/history/” and click on “all time.” Once you do this, you’ll see a long list of webpages you have searched (including some you’d probably rather forget about). You can delete them, but you’re in for a long and tedious process – Google only allows you to delete one day at a time. You just click on “today,” then on the “delete” button on the top.
Photo: Business Insider
Naturally, Google doesn’t make it quite so simple, and warns you that you may not really want to delete the information because it will hinder your ability to receive “tailored results” as all deletions are final.
The reality, though, is that nothing bad will happen to your Google account if you hit the delete button. You’d just have to have a lot of time on your hands to remove years’ worth of data.
Anyway, should you be so ambitious, click on the little menu button on the top left of your screen, where you’ll find links to your voice, device, location, and YouTube records. You can access these pages and delete information here, too.
Photo: Business Insider
Photo: Business Insider
A click on “location history” takes you to a page within a map, which reveals your “timeline” of where and when you travelled with location services like Google Maps. When you click on the settings button in the lower-right corner, you can delete all of your location data. If you’d rather not and find it useful, you can click on “download a copy of all your data.”
Photo: Business Insider
Photo: Business Insider
Click on “select all,” scroll down, and select “next.” You can then select your file type and select your delivery method. Like everything else, this isn’t a speedy process, and, as Google warns, emailed archives could take hours or days to compile. You’ll receive an email from Google when it’s done and your (likely enormous) documents have arrived. You can take a trip down digital memory lane as you’re presented with everything from every photo you’ve uploaded to ghosts of search histories past.
Photo: Business Insider
Photo: Business Insider
To find the information that advertisers are given on you, go to any Google service and click on “my account.” Doing so takes you to your account settings page. Clicking “activity controls” on the left reveals the daily information that Google keeps on you. If you click on “Control your content,” you can download all of your data. You can click on “ads settings,” then scroll down and click on “manage ad settings.”
Photo: Business Insider
You’ll now find things Google thinks interests you (and some are likely pretty accurate). If you scroll down and click on “control signed-out ads,” you can turn off “interest-based ads” for the browser. Meaning, Google won’t share stuff about you to to advertisers.
Photo: Business Insider
Of course, whether you opt to discover and delete everything Google knows about you (or thinks it knows about you) probably depends on whether you care at all – and how much free time you’re looking to fill.
Photo: Business Insider
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