How do I see everything Google knows about me?

Open Google My Activity to see your searches, browsing, and YouTube history, and use Google Takeout to export a full copy of your data across Google services.

How do I automatically delete my Google history?

In My Activity, set an auto-delete schedule of 3, 18, or 36 months. Google will then clear activity older than the window you choose.

Is my Google location history stored in the cloud?

No longer by default. Google moved location Timeline onto your device, it is off unless you enable it, and it is no longer exported through Takeout.

PrivacyJune 17, 20266 min read

What Google Knows About You (and How to See and Delete It)

By Scott Anderson, Clearfront maintainer

Google holds a detailed record of what you search, watch, and where you go. The good news is that it also gives you the tools to see all of it, delete it, and stop most of the collection. Here is exactly where to look and what to switch off.

What does Google know about you?

Google can hold your search and browsing activity, your YouTube history, the interests it infers about you for ads, and, if you enabled it, your location history. You can view, delete, and export all of it from your Google account.

This is not hidden. Google gives you dashboards for every category, and turning the collection off is a few clicks. Most people just never open them. Here is the tour.

See and delete your activity

Google My Activity is the central dashboard for your searches, browsing, and YouTube history. You can delete items by hand or set activity to auto-delete.

Go to My Activity to review what Google has logged. You can delete individual items or everything, and you can set an auto-delete schedule of 3, 18, or 36 months so old activity clears itself. The dashboard is documented at Google's My Activity help ↗.

Export everything with Takeout

Google Takeout lets you download a copy of your Google data, from Gmail and Photos to Drive, so you can see the full picture.

Takeout is useful for a one-time audit of everything Google holds, or before you delete an account. One recent change worth knowing: your location Timeline is no longer part of Takeout, because Google moved that data onto your device.

Turn off ad personalization

Google builds an advertising profile of your inferred interests. You can see it and turn personalization off in My Ad Center.

Open My Ad Center to review the interest categories Google has assigned you and switch off ad personalization. It does not stop ads, but it stops them being targeted from a profile of you, and it is a revealing look at what Google thinks you are interested in.

Stop location tracking

Location History, now called Timeline, is off by default and stored on your device rather than in the cloud. You control it in your phone's Maps settings.

This is a real change from a few years ago. Timeline data now lives on your device, is off unless you turn it on, and can be auto-deleted. If you never want Google building a map of everywhere you go, leave Timeline off. If you use it, set it to auto-delete.

Where this fits

Cleaning up what Google holds is one piece of reducing your overall footprint. It controls what Google collects going forward; it does not remove what other sites and data brokers hold about you. Pair it with the footprint reduction steps and, for pages about you in search results, how to remove your personal information from Google Search.

Frequently asked questions

How do I see everything Google knows about me?: Open Google My Activity to see your searches, browsing, and YouTube history, and use Google Takeout to export a full copy of your data across Google services.
How do I automatically delete my Google history?: In My Activity, set an auto-delete schedule of 3, 18, or 36 months. Google will then clear activity older than the window you choose.
Is my Google location history stored in the cloud?: No longer by default. Google moved location Timeline onto your device, it is off unless you enable it, and it is no longer exported through Takeout.

Sources and further reading

Scott Anderson believes your personal data is yours to own and protect. He built Clearfront, a free, open-source tool for scanning and scrubbing your own digital footprint from public data, and he writes about OSINT, breach exposure, and personal privacy.