It is entirely possible your Google search history be visible by other people on their computers. When logged in, Google can easily store your searches on their servers in addition to on your own computer.
Warning: Securing your online searches will not remove all traces of your browsing history. Files will still exist that are indicative of the websites you have visited. Click here to learn what else you need to delete. This is still true even if you have been using a ‘private browsing’ mode.
An example of what can happen…
- You search for something while logged into Google on your own computer, tablet, smartphone.
- And, then if you then login to Google on another computer (e.g. at work), tablet, smartphone etc, then you will see your searches coming up as ‘helpful’ suggestions as you start to search for something in Google (below).
Above – Searching in Chrome on desktop PC while logged into Google account.
Above – Then logging into google account on an iPad and starting to type the same search phrase automatically triggers the search done on the PC to appear. (Note: You need to have actually visited the websites on the first computer for google to give suggestions on the second).
- Then if you forget to log out, anyone using this computer after you will be able to see your Google searches automatically appearing as suggested searches. And, if they are nosy enough and goto the Google History page they will see a full list of all your searches (below). So, for example, a colleague on a work computer could see what you Googled on your home computer last night at home!!
Some things are not for sharing.
What is the answer?
Clearly the obvious answer is to always log out!! However, it’s easy to forget. So to stop any accidents, you may want to:-
- While logged into Google, go to https://history.google.com/history/
- Click the gear icon in the top-right.
- Click ‘delete all’.
- Then click the ‘Turn off’ button.
Note: Clearing your browser history will have no effect on this problem because when you are logged in Google stores it’s searches on it’s own server.
Something to think about first
As you delete your history you will see the warning “Are you sure you want to permanently delete your entire Google search history? Your history makes Google search better for you, with more relevant results and smarter search predictions.” This is true. So instead you may want to delete individual items:
- While logged into Google, go to https://history.google.com/history/
- Tick the box to the left of the item.
- Click the Remove Items button.
Help – I’ve left myself logged in somewhere!
If this problem has already happened, then do the above and also change your Google password:-
- While logged into Google, go to https://www.google.com/settings/account.
- Click Security in the left-hand menu.
- Click the Change Password button.
Other software, including Facebook and You Tube
Most websites that require you to log into an online account. For example, You Tube work in the same way and present the same issues Google as described above.
You should also be careful when using the iCloud with Safari when sharing between iPhones, iPads, Macs etc.
Also, it is worth mentioning that this is not exactly a problem: providing you remember to log out it is a useful way of giving you quick access to information most relevant to you.
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