Complete Google Privacy Guide

1. Go to your Google Account "Data & privacy" hub

1. 1. Visit: https://myaccount.google.com/
2. 2. Sign in.
3. 3. In the left menu, click "Data & privacy".

This is the central place where Google lets you manage activity, history, ads, and exports for your account. (Google Help)

2. Turn off Activity Controls (the big three: Web & App, Location, YouTube)

Under "History settings" on the Data & privacy page, you'll see the main "Activity controls":

• • Web & App Activity
• • Location History
• • YouTube History

These are the core switches that control most of what's tied to your account. (Google Help)

2.1 Web & App Activity

This logs:

• • Your Google searches
• • Activity in apps and sites that use Google services
• • Sometimes approximate location and Chrome history, depending on options (Google Help)

To turn it off + delete:

1. 1. In Data & privacy → History settings, click Web & App Activity.
2. 2. Click Turn off.
3. 3. When prompted, choose "Turn off" or "Turn off and delete activity" to wipe existing logs. (Google Help)

If you don't want to fully turn it off, at least:

• • Scroll to Auto-delete and set it to delete anything older than 3 months or 18 months. (Google Help)

2.2 Location History

Location History can store where you go (e.g., Maps Timeline). (Google Help)

1. 1. In History settings, click Location History.
2. 2. Click Turn off.
3. 3. When asked, choose Turn off or Turn off and delete activity.
4. 4. For existing data:
• • Visit https://www.google.com/maps/timeline
• • Use the options there to delete a day, a custom range, or all time. (Google Help)

2.3 YouTube History

YouTube History stores:

• • Videos you watch
• • Searches you do on YouTube
• • And it's also used to personalize recommendations and ads (Google Help)

1. 1. Under History settings, click YouTube History.
2. 2. Click Turn off.
3. 3. Decide whether to Turn off and delete activity.
4. 4. Optionally set Auto-delete to periodically wipe older history.

3. Clean up existing history in My Activity

Even after you turn things off, old history still sits there unless you delete it.

Go to: https://myactivity.google.com/

Here you can:

• • See all activity (searches, sites, apps, Maps, etc.) tied to your account
• • Filter by date, Google product, and keyword
• • Delete:
• • Individual items
• • A specific day
• • A custom date range
• • Or all time (Google Help)

To bulk-delete:

1. 1. At the top left, click "Delete" or "Controls".
2. 2. Choose:
• • Delete today
• • Delete custom range
• • Delete all time
3. 3. Confirm. (Google Help)

You can also set Auto-delete (3/18/36 months) from here if you haven't already.

4. Lock down Maps & location traces

Even with Location History off, some location data can still be attached to actions (like a search or navigation) via Web & App Activity.

For Maps-specific activity:

1. 1. Open https://myactivity.google.com/ and filter by Maps. (Google Help)
2. 2. Delete individual entries or bulk-delete as above.

On Android, you can also:

1. 1. Open Google Maps.
2. 2. Tap your profile → Settings & privacy → Maps history.
3. 3. Use Delete today, Delete custom range, or Delete all time. (Google Help)

5. Shut down ad personalization (My Ad Center)

Ad settings are separate from basic activity logging.

5.1 Turn off personalized ads (account-wide)

1. 1. Go to My Ad Center: https://myadcenter.google.com/
2. 2. Sign in.
3. 3. Under "Privacy" or "Ad settings", find Personalized ads and set it to Off. (Google Help)

This stops Google using your data to customize ads on Search, YouTube, and other Google services (you'll still see ads, just less targeted). (Google Help)

5.2 Turn off activity used for ads

Still in My Ad Center → Manage privacy:

• • Under "Activity used to personalize ads", you can toggle:
• • Activity on sites and apps
• • YouTube History for ads personalization
• • Sometimes Web & App Activity fields as well

Set these to Off so your history isn't used to fine-tune ads. (Google Help)

6. Lock down Chrome's new ad privacy features (Privacy Sandbox)

If you use Chrome, the browser itself now has separate Ad privacy controls (Topics, Site-suggested ads, Ad measurement). (Google Help)

On desktop or Android:

1. 1. Open Chrome.
2. 2. Go to Settings → Privacy and security → Ad privacy.
3. 3. You'll typically see toggles like:
• • Ad topics
• • Site-suggested ads
• • Ad measurement
4. 4. Turn them Off to stop Chrome from building on-device ad profiles and sharing signals for those features. (Google Help)

This is separate from your Google Account and specifically affects ads shown in Chrome based on local browsing data.

7. Clean up other product-specific activity (Assistant, etc.)

7.1 Google Assistant

Assistant commands and queries are stored as part of your account's activity.

You can:

• • Delete with your voice:
• • "Hey Google, delete my last conversation."
• • "Hey Google, delete today's activity."
• • "Hey Google, delete this week's activity." (Google Help)
• • Or visit My Activity and filter by Assistant / Voice & Audio and delete items or ranges.

7.2 Other product histories

In My Activity, use the product filter to review and delete:

• • Search
• • Maps
• • YouTube
• • News
• • Play Store
• • And more, depending on what you use (Google Help)

8. Run Google's Privacy Checkup (to catch anything you missed)

Google has a wizard-like page called Privacy Checkup:

• • Go to: https://myaccount.google.com/intro/privacycheckup

You'll be walked through:

• • Activity controls
• • YouTube settings
• • Google Photos / sharing
• • Ad settings
• • Profile visibility

It's not perfect, but it's a good way to spot settings you may have skipped. (Google Account)

9. Get a copy of your data (Google Takeout)

To see what Google has stored, use Google Takeout.

9.1 Start an export

1. 1. Go to: https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout
2. 2. Sign in.
3. 3. Select which Google products you want to export data from (e.g., Gmail, Drive, Photos, YouTube, Maps, etc.). (Google Help)
4. 4. Click Next step.

9.2 Choose export options

You can choose:

• • Delivery method:
• • Download link via email
• • Add to Drive
• • Add to Dropbox, OneDrive, or Box (Google Help)
• • Frequency:
• • Export once
• • Or schedule exports (e.g., every 2 months for 1 year)
• • File type & size (e.g., .zip, 2GB chunks)

Then click Create export.

You'll get an email when the export is ready, with a link to download or view it (depending on your delivery method). (Google Help)

9.3 IMPORTANT: Third-party "copy" exports

Google also offers a way for third-party services to pull a copy of some of your data (separate from Takeout). If you've ever approved that, you can see and revoke that access in your Google Account. (Google Help)

10. Extra hygiene if you really want to minimize tracking

Beyond Google's official controls, you can reduce what gets collected in the first place:

• • Stay signed out when possible (or use separate profiles for "searching" vs "personal stuff").
• • Use a privacy-focused browser and extensions (tracker blockers, strict cookie settings).
• • Regularly clear cookies & site data (which also affects what Google tracks when you're signed out).
• • Consider using VPNs or privacy-friendly DNS to limit IP-based profiling (though this doesn't change what's stored when you're fully logged into your account).