See exactly what Google knows about you

This includes the data it collects from your personal interactions inside Gmail, Google Calendar and other apps you won’t see listed in My Activity.

Over the next few weeks, Google users will receive a notification directing them to check their security settings, where they can opt into a new type of “ads personalisation” based on age, gender, and search history.

Google began rolling out the My Activity page to it billion-plus users, offering a catalog of search histories, including videos and pages you’ve visited; it’s expected to be released gradually, Wired reports.

Bradley said that “to be fair to Google, you can turn (activity tracking) off”. Previously, the company has kept data collected about each product-search, Gmail, YouTube and other services-separately.

And you said I could delete things? However, until now it didn’t use that data to target ads at you. From there, you can tell Google to stop saving information about things such as your searches, location history, and YouTube watching habits.

Once deleted, Google won’t use that data as part of your profile. Ads Personalization is turned off by default, but for users who activate it, Google expects the feature will improve their ad experience by giving them a better sense of control over the ads they are served across devices. So it’s up to you whether you want to opt in or not, and Google lets you decide by clicking on the “Manage ads settings” under Personal Info & Privacy in the My Account Website.

By making the feature opt-in Google hopes to avoid criticism of its privacy practices, while making advertising more relevant at a time more people are using ad blockers.

The company is marketing the move as a win for privacy advocates, as the new features are not automatic, but instead require users to make a more informed decision about their personal privacy protections.

Alternatively, if you return to the main screen you can conduct a search by either keyword or category, and then click on the 3 dots next to the search bar, and select Delete results. (You want to get from A to B quickly, know what the weather will be and get quick access to Taylor Swift lyrics, don’t you?) “Every day, data makes our services work better for you”.

What if I want Google to stop tracking this sort of data? If Facebook ever creates something as easy and transparent as what Google is doing with My Activity, I might change my mind.