Google is making it easier to control and delete your data, starting with Search

Ben Schoon | Oct 24 2018 - 7:07 am PT

Privacy is a huge concern on the internet in 2018, and Google is high on the list of companies that have a lot of data on users. Google has made plenty of tools available to help users control data, but today the company is announcing some new options that make it easier to control and delete your Google data directly within the company’s own products.

To clear out history on Search and other products, you’ve always been able to head over to your Google Account settings to clear out that data. Now though, Google is making that ability a bit easier to access by placing it directly within some of the company’s most used products.

This kicks off today with Google Search. You’ll now be able to review and delete your Google data directly from Search itself. Other tools available here include being able to adjust settings that regard advisements, personalized results, and more.

Without ever leaving Search, you can now review and delete your recent Search activity, get quick access to the most relevant privacy controls in your Google Account, and learn more about how Search works with your data… For example, to control the ads you see when you search, we give you access to your Ad Settings. Additionally, you can access your Activity Controls to decide what information Google saves to your account and uses to make Search and other Google services faster, smarter and more useful.

Google explains in a post on The Keyword that these tools are also coming to other products next year starting with Google Maps. For Android and iOS users, these same data controls will be added to the Google app “in the coming weeks.” The idea behind these changes is to make the tools to control Google data more accessible and more obvious to users.

This all comes around the same time that Google faces scrutiny around a Google+ security flaw which caused the social network to shut down, as well as criticism from some regarding third-party access to data.

Alongside this announcement, Google has also released a brief animated video that explains how it utilizes the data its users generate.