Recent developments in online browsing history monitoring have allowed users to access, inspect, and even remove certain information about you that website owners have recorded. These tools are quite powerful as they do not require anyone to believe that you engaged in any misconduct to know important things like your political leanings and search queries.

Typically, these tool use paid services or premium accounts to gather this data. But how much does it cost? And what happens to all of that information after you pay for the tool?

There are some free alternatives, but they lack features and/or protections against overcollection. Thankfully, there is an alternative that does not cost anything! You can easily remove past searches by learning how to do so via Google.

Google already collects and stores past web activity for you with their Chrome browser. It is very common for people to re-install new software such as laptops or phones, which typically reset many user settings including where files get saved and how internet browsers sync up.

By adding “Reset Firefox” under Settings > Privacy, then clicking Advanced, you can clear out all of your previous web activity and file cache within Firefox itself.

Set up Google Search History

Recent changes to Google’s web search engine include the addition of an easy way to delete your past searches. All you have to do is head over to google.com/history, click “show more settings,” then use the lite mode option to remove all traces of past activity.

This new feature was first spotted back in May when it appeared as a rumored change at Google I/O, the company’s annual developer conference. Since then, it has officially been released for non-developers to try out.

If you want to keep some records – like say, every picture of kittens ever – this is totally fine, but if not there are ways to prevent people from looking into your past internet activities.

Use the Google browser extension

There are several ways to use Ctrl + H or ‘Delete’ as some like to call it, to remove trending searches from your browsing experience. Some of these methods require you to have an account at Google, so make sure to check out our article about how to be a loyal fan!

If you do not want to go through the hassle of creating an account with Google, there is another way to use this feature that does not require one. The free version of the Google Browser Extension allows you to easily disable or enable the option to clear your saved search lists.

Use the Google private browsing window

Recent developments for hiding your search history include using the Private Browsing Mode in Chrome, or creating an account-based private browser with one of these browsers.

You can also use the Google private browsing mode to remove all traces of past searches including saved passwords, tabs you closed, and what sites you visited.

By removing this data, other people cannot see everything you were looking at online before you closed the tab or clicked “remember password” when you logged into a site.

This is especially helpful if you are very privacy conscious as it will keep anyone else from viewing anything you have previously searched for, etc.

Use the Google system settings

In addition to changing your browser default search engine, you can also edit how quickly Google updates its trending list by altering the time it takes to refresh.

To do this, head over to Settings > Search, then Tick the box next to Refresh the results periodically. You can choose between Quick (1 minute), Medium (5 minutes) or Slow (30 minutes).

The longer you leave it, the less likely it is that new trends will be picked up as the software works through all the searches.

Use different browsers

Recent developments for individuals to try out are browser extensions or tools that can remove or add features from your favorite search engines. There are many types of these apps, some better than others.

Some will only work with certain sites, while other free ones are less effective. Some will cost you money as paid versions, so be sure to check those before installing anything costly!

By using several mobile and desktop web browsers, you’ll find there is one that works best for you. Try each one out for a few days to see if they make a difference for you!

There are even ones where you can choose which search engine you want to use instead of sticking with the default. For example, if you feel Google is not friendly enough for your needs, you can switch yours out!

This article will talk more about the advantages of switching away from Google as our main search engine, and how to do it. But first, let us discuss why this is important to do.

Use different device types

Recent trends involving the deletion of your account information or you being locked out of your account are very frustrating. This is particularly true if you’re an honest user who has never done anything wrong with their Google Account.

If you use the same computer to access Gmail, there can be some annoying issues when it comes time to log back in. Sometimes, just because you don’t see someone’s email message, doesn’t mean that they didn’t send it!

This is why it is important to use separate devices for online accounts. This will prevent this kind of confusion. For example, you could have one phone number for work and another for personal, so people cannot easily connect you with both.

You could also use different computers to manage your accounts- hopefully giving yourself enough time to stop what you were doing before trying to login again!

Google does a good job of offering help through the “Sign In With Your Device” option which allows users to add additional authentication sources like phones, tablets, or laptops.

Use different locations

Recent deletions of trending searches are another way to get rid of annoying Google search results. These include deleting the source URL, de-indexing the page, or simply removing the company name from the listing.

Some people begin doing this in large numbers at one time to make an impact on their site’s performance in the long run. It is important to remember that these actions will only work for a little while before you need to repeat the process!

It is very difficult to perform this action manually as there is no clearly defined list of companies that are involved in recent deletion practices. Luckily, there are some free tools that can do the hard work for you!

There are several sites that have a “Remove links related to [Enter website names here]” option. After selecting the appropriate red link, you will be shown the exact URLs for each result. Simply click delete for each and your job is done!

These types of websites make it easy to go through and remove links that are no longer relevant. Unfortunately, most of them also include a premium service which may not be necessary unless you are trying to reduce your budget.

Delete your cookies

Another way to remove all of these tracking files is to simply delete your browser’s cookies. To do this, go to your browser’s settings menu (usually located at the top right corner) and choose “Settings” then "Privacy." You can now find the cookie section where you can either block or erase every single cookie in your browser.

Make sure that you completely clear your cookies out! This includes both third-party cookies as well as ones from the website you want to visit. Doing so will eliminate most trackers.

Some browsers have an easy button to perform this process for you; look under Settings for more info.