You probably know that websites track how you use them, and even websites that don’t require you to sign up for an account can use cookies to track your preferences and behavior. However, even if you are not logged in, the largest networks (such as Google and Facebook) continue to track you and follow you around the Internet to serve you “relevant” ads and content. Since most of us have signed up for at least one of Google’s many popular services, Google is the company with the most information. Not everyone is comfortable with the idea of ​​a company knowing so much about them. If you’re one of these people, read on to learn how to minimize Google’s online tracking.
(See also: How to delete a Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube or LinkedIn account)
Please note that this is not a guide to blocking ads. You’ll still receive advertising – it just won’t be personalized by tracking your online behavior across the web. You need to do the following:
Disable tracking
This is the most important part of this guide. If you find that the same ads appear no matter which website you visit, it may be because Google is tracking you. Thankfully, Google makes it very easy to disable tracking. Please follow the steps below to protect your privacy.
1) Google has an ad settings page. Visit it and log in.
2) Here you will see two columns, one for the ads you will see on the Google website and one for the ads you will see across the web. Based on your data, Google will estimate your gender, age, languages ​​you speak and your interests. Scroll down to Opt-out settings and click Opt-out in both columns. You will notice that the data above will be replaced with N/A.
3) Google’s advertising cookies are still tracking you. To delete it, go to the advertising cookie opt-out page and click to download the cookie opt-out plugin. The plug-in is available for Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox. Once you download this add-on, Google will stop tracking your browsing activity.
Disable search history
While this stops direct tracking, Google is still collecting a lot of information about your behavior. Whether you use Gmail, YouTube, or Google itself to search for content, you’ll provide the company with a clear trail of browsing data. The good news is that you can easily stop it from doing this. Here’s how:
1) Go to Google’s Account History page and log in.
2) You’ll see four big cards (What you’ve searched for, Where you’ve been, Your YouTube searches, and What you’ve watched on YouTube). Each of these items has a “Pause” button near the lower right corner and a “Manage History” link in the lower left corner.
3) Click “Pause” on all four tiles. This will prevent Google from recording your personal data.
4) To delete the data that Google has logged, for each tile, click the Manage History link, then select the item and click “Delete Item” to delete them all.
Disable shared endorsements
Last year, Google introduced a new way to make ads more engaging — showing your Google+ activity next to them. Here’s what Google has to say about it: “To help your friends and others find cool stuff online, your activity (such as comments, +1s, following, shares, etc.) may be used along with your name and photo in a commercial or other promotional context.” If you don’t want to endorse a product or service in ads posted on the web, follow these steps.
1) Go to Google’s shared approval settings page and log in.
2) Now scroll down to the bottom and uncheck the “Based on my activity, Google may show my name and profile photo in shared endorsements that appear in ads” checkbox.
3) After removing the check mark, click the blue “Save” button. That’s it.
Applicable to Android and iOS users
If a smartphone or tablet is your preferred device for browsing the web, you can quickly check its settings to disable tracking. On Android, go to Settings > Accounts & sync > Google > Ads (on some devices, Google may appear in the Settings app itself). Now make sure there is a checkmark next to Opt out of interest-based advertising. On iOS, go to Settings > Privacy > Advertising and turn on Limit Ad Tracking. This will prevent websites serving ads from tracking your browsing activity.
Switch from Google
Still worried about your browsing history being tracked to serve search results across the web? Try DuckDuckGo, a search engine that respects your privacy. It does not tailor search results to your interests or the sites you frequently visit. DuckDuckGo has recently added new features like instant answers. Apple’s iOS 8 supports DuckDuckGo, and users will be able to set it as the default search engine on their iOS devices.
These steps should help you stop Google from tracking your web activity. If you have any other suggestions, please contact us using the comments section below. If you liked this article, you may want to visit our How To section for more helpful articles like this
