Have you ever wondered just how much Google knows about you based on your daily searches, sites visited, and questions asked? As the world‘s largest collector of personal data, Google records an astonishing amount of information on each of its users.
This in-depth guide will teach you how to view your complete Google activity profile, understand what‘s being tracked, and take back control by customizing what data gets saved or deleting your history entirely.
What Exactly Does Google Track About Me?
Through its ubiquitous ecosystem of products and services like Gmail, Chrome, Maps, Android devices, and more, Google captures an intimate portrait of your online behavior and real-world activities.
Some examples of data points Google connects to your account include:
- Web searches you perform using Google Search
- Sites and links clicked on while browsing Chrome
- Videos watched on YouTube
- Questions asked to Google Assistant speaker devices
- Specific locations visited tracked via Android phone or Google Maps
- Products researched before making purchases
- Apps downloaded from the Play Store
According to a 2021 report analyzing Google‘s data collection:
| Type of Personal Data | Amount Held by Google |
|---|---|
| Locations Visited | 20 billion pings per day |
| YouTube Watch History | 1 billion hours watched per day |
| Google Searches Performed | 3.5 billion per day |
With Google services being deeply integrated into our daily lives, you can imagine just how detailed this activity profile gets over months and years of use.
But should tech giants like Google have free license to collect our personal data without restrictions?
Rising Backlash Over Tech‘s "Surveillance Capitalism" Model
The concept of "surveillance capitalism" addresses the business model that has emerged of tech platforms profiting massively off users‘ personal data.
As explained by Harvard Professor Shoshana Zuboff:
"It aims to predict and modify human behavior as a means to produce revenue and market control."
In a 2021 piece, Zuboff condemned the depths of Google‘s data harvesting:
"No application, no service, no product that depends on Google can escape Google’s collection network. Google has manufactured the once-science-fiction reality that everything about us is known and known constantly in real time."
And Google is far from transparent with explicitly detailing the extent of its tracking or getting clear user consent.
A 2021 lawsuit filed in Australia alleged:
“Google did not obtain consent for that collection from internet users, and in fact made it difficult and sometimes effectively impossible for an ordinary internet user to understand that Google would collect personal browsing data from their use of the internet.”
So how much visibility and control do we really have over Google‘s trove of personal data gathered on us?
How to View Your Google Activity Dashboard
The good news is Google does provide access to a portal showing your collected activity data from across its products.
Follow these steps to access your Google Activity dashboard:
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Go to myactivity.google.com or click your Google Account profile picture and select "Manage your Google Account"
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Log into your Google account if prompted
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Your activity dashboard displays with your recent online activity in chronological order
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To filter activity types, click tabs at the top for:
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Web & App Activity: Chrome browsing history, searches, sites visited
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Location History: Real-world movements tracked via Android phone or Google Maps
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YouTube History: Videos watched and search queries
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To search for specific activity items, use the "Search your activity" bar
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Identify any private, embarrassing or unnecessary activity logs and click the trash icon to delete
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Under each activity type tab, enable auto-delete settings to have older items periodically purged
3 Key Takeaways From My Google Activity View
Reviewing my own Google history, a few alarming patterns stood out showing Google‘s reach:
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Incredibly detailed profile based on searches, sites visited, videos watched, and locations tracked over years
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Found concerning data like records of past dating site visits and private medical questions asked
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Much of my data that I frankly don‘t want permanently tied to my identity or sold by Google
While the convenience and personalization powered by this data is useful at times, it raises some serious privacy concerns.
Do we feel comfortable with Google harnessing all this intimate data with limited restrictions or user controls?
How to Disable Google Activity Tracking
If you find Google‘s snooping too invasive, you do have options to fight back and limit data collection:
1. Delete Specific Activity Items
We showed how you can delete individual items from your activity history above. Prioritize removing particularly private searches, medical questions asked to Google Assistant, or other sensitive logs.
2. Enable Auto-Delete Settings
Have Google automatically purge older activity data every 3 months, annually, or biannually. Note deleting doesn‘t mean activities didn‘t happen, as info could still have been collated or sold during that period.
3. Use Incognito Mode in Chrome
Incognito Mode prevents Chrome from locally saving your browsing history, cookies, site data and form information. This disables tracking just for that particular private session.
4. Fully Turn Off Tracking
In your activity dashboard, you can fully disable tracking for:
- Web & App Activity
- Location History
- YouTube Watch History
This will limit data collection moving forward but again doesn‘t erase what‘s already been gathered and monetized.
My Decision on Google Activity Tracking
Given privacy concerns around existing data that can‘t be erased as well as risks of future tracking, I‘ve decided to take the following steps:
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Purged highly private search queries, location details, and other data I don‘t consent to being tracked long-term
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Set auto-delete to 18 months across activity types to limit accumulation of historical logs
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Fully disabled Location History given this seems relatively invasive and unnecessary
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Will start periodically checking my Activity Dashboard and continue tweaking restrictions
I suggest you also carefully review the breadth of data Google has amassed on you. And consider tailoring tracking settings or outright disabling categories that feel too intrusive for your comfort level.
What‘s your perspective on the Google data gathering debate? Are you disturbed by its practices or believe benefits outweigh the risks? I‘d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
