Adjusting your settings requires navigating past several layers of sub-menus. Follow this sequence to configure your profile:
Step 1: Access Your Activity Ledger
Sign in to your account and navigate to myactivity.google.com. Verify that you are signed into your primary profile before auditing settings.
Step 2: Inspect Search Services History
Locate the central card labeled Search Services History. Here, you can pause query logging entirely or establish an automated deletion schedule. Selecting Auto-delete lets you set strict thresholds of 3 months, 18 months, or 36 months. For optimal balance between utility and footprint hygiene, set this threshold to 3 months.
Step 3: Decouple Recommendations
Return to the main dashboard and click into Personalized Recommendations. Toggling this off stops Google from analyzing historical sessions to manipulate your Play Store rankings, mobile widgets, or Discover feed. Autocomplete suggestions in standard search will still function using broad public trends rather than your private dossier.
Step 4: Execute the AI Model Training Opt Out
Navigate to Data & Privacy > Model Development and Machine Learning Controls. Switch the toggle to Off. This ensures your prompt logs and search refinements are excluded from future training corpuses.
Step 5: Delete Browsing Data and Past Records
To clear Google search history retroactively, select Delete activity by from the left sidebar of the My Activity hub. Choose All time, check Search, and confirm the deletion. Note that clearing your account history does not delete browsing data stored locally on your physical machine; you must clear your local browser cache independently via Chrome, Safari, or Firefox settings.
