Google collects users’ personal data across websites and apps to provide personalized ads and other content. While this has its perks, access to such intimate information gives the company the power to influence our behavior and opinions.
Google’s data collection practices can be so invasive that they violate user privacy on a daily basis. However, if you wish to take charge of your Google privacy settings, here’s what you can do:
- Do a privacy checkup to review your current settings.
- Download your data to hold on to important information.
- Disable web and activity tracking.
- Turn off location history.
- Disable YouTube activity tracking.
- Stop targeted ads and search results.
- Disable audio and video recording.
- Change the new Chrome privacy settings.
- Use a trustworthy VPN to hide your IP address from Google and other invasive third parties.
Even if you change all of your Google privacy settings, the sites you visit (like YouTube) can still get your IP address and physical location. If you want to guarantee complete privacy from Google’s prying eyes, invest in a premium VPN like NordVPN. It will hide your IP and make you anonymous online.
For detailed guides on how to change your Google account privacy settings, read the full article below!
Google has so much data on you that the company can, to a certain extent, predict, shape, and even change your behavior and opinions.
But luckily, you can take back control over your online privacy. In this article, we’ll discuss Google’s privacy issues and show you step-by-step guides on how to change your Google privacy settings.
However, if you want to take an important step toward enhancing your privacy right now, we recommend using a virtual private network (VPN). A top VPN like NordVPN will encrypt your data and safeguard your sensitive information from prying eyes. Right now, you can also get NordVPN with a substantial discount.
Google Privacy Concerns
Our dependence on Google’s services is staggering. In exchange for letting us use its products, Google gets to know us intimately by collecting data about us and what we do online.
Did you know that Google can monitor you even when you’re not using its services? Most websites have hidden Google trackers, which means Google can track you across almost all the websites you visit. And what about Google’s latest innovation, the Search Generative Experience (SGE)? Will this Google AI affect your privacy?
Is your data safe with Google? What’s the cost of our dependence on this tech giant?
Privacy violations
Google knows everything you do online — every click, every website you visit, every email you’ve ever sent.
Sometimes, we willingly allow others to peek into our privacy, for example, when we visit a doctor or go through airport security. However, we do not consciously consent to let Google in on the most intimate aspects of our lives. Still, this happens, and Google may share your private data with the highest bidder.
Not only does Google mislead us when getting our consent to be tracked online, but it’s also nearly impossible to tell just how much data the company collects and what happens to this information.
Cookies, trackers, and ads
Google generates its revenue primarily from targeted advertising. Using the morsels of data collected from cookies and trackers, Google can create detailed profiles of its users.
By using Google’s services, you consent to your data being collected, processed, and then sold to advertisers looking to use this information to make a quick profit.
Even when you use Incognito mode on your browser to avoid cookies and trackers, it turns out that Google still collects data. In 2020, Google was sued for tracking users even in Incognito mode.
Social sorting
Why does it matter if Google builds profiles on us?
All the data that Google collects provides the company with valuable behavioral information. There are patterns in our behavior that give away a lot of personal information: who we interact with, what we’re interested in, what we like to buy, and even how we think politically. Sociologist David Lyon calls this “social sorting.”
The more Google knows, the more it can control. By tracking your finances and showing you the right ads, Google can influence what you buy. By tracking the websites you visit, comments you like on social media, and YouTube videos you watch, Google can push your political views in a particular direction.
Ties to FBI and NSA
Google has close ties to American intelligence services: the FBI and the NSA. Leaked documents in the past showed Google’s cooperation under the PRISM surveillance program, which granted the NSA access to data from non-US citizens without a warrant.
There are concerns about Google handing over information to the US government. Since the US is part of the Five Eyes coalition, your data is not safe in their hands.
The US Congress has failed to take action to limit Google’s ability to vacuum up truckloads of information on its users. Google virtually regulates itself on privacy issues.
As long as you use Google services, you won’t be completely rid of these risks. But you can limit how much they affect your privacy.
The Top 9 Google Privacy Settings to Change
Google’s privacy policy changes from time to time, as do its privacy settings. Be sure to come back to this article in the future and see what’s changed in Google’s data policies and settings. For now, here are nine Google privacy step-by-step guides.
1. Find your Google account privacy settings and do a checkup
The first step in changing your Google privacy is finding the right settings. Luckily, all privacy settings are in one menu, which you can access by following these steps:
- Visit the Google Account page.
- Sign in with your Google account details.
- Click on “Manage your data & privacy” or “Data & privacy” on the left side menu.
You are now in the main Data & Privacy menu and can make various changes. We’ll show you every important setting and how to enable it. But first, let’s do a privacy checkup. You can do that from your main Google account page. Just click “Privacy Checkup.”
After you’re done with that, check the Security settings page. Here’s how you can access it:
- From your main Google Account page, click on the “Security” tab in the left side menu.
- You are now on the Security page, where you can tweak several settings.
We recommend changing the following settings to enhance your online privacy:
- Update your password. Make sure you use a long, secure password. If you don’t want to bother remembering complicated credentials, use a password manager. We tested dozens of apps and found that NordPass is the best choice.
- Enable Two-Step Verification. This guarantees you won’t lose your account, even in cases when your password is compromised.
- Decide which apps have account access. We recommend you remove apps that you haven’t used in a while.
- Check which devices you’ve used to sign into Google. Consider removing some of them.
2. Download your data
Wondering what’s in your Google data file? On the Data & Privacy page in your account, you can get insights into what’s stored about you on Google servers. We recommend you download this data before going forward. Most of it isn’t of value to you, but there may be things like your YouTube activity or messages you may want to hold onto.
Here’s how to download your data:
- Scroll down on the Data & Privacy page to download or delete your data.
- Click “Download your data.”
- You are now in the “Google Takeout” section.
- Select the data you want to download.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Next step.”
- Choose how you wish to receive your data and how often.
- Click “Create export.”
- Click “Download” to see your data.
You can now see what personal information Google has collected on you. Once the file is created, you can access it for a week.
3. Disable web & app activity
If you only change one Google privacy setting, let it be this one. Google’s web and app activity lets it track you across the internet.
For example, every time you use the Chrome browser, Google monitors the websites you visit and how you use the app — every click is registered. Even if you use the Google search engine with a different browser, like Firefox or Safari, Google still keeps track of what you search for and integrates information from other apps and devices.
Do you want to limit Google’s invasive data collection? Here’s what you can do:
- Go to “Data & Privacy” on the Google Account page.
- Scroll down to “History settings” and click “Web & App Activity.”
- Click “Turn Off” in “Activity Controls.”
- A window will open. Click “Pause.”
A window will pop up, confirming that the setting is off. If you want to delete previously saved data (we recommend you do this), click “Delete Old Activity.” You’ll be asked to select a time frame and the Google products you want to delete your activity from.
However, if you want to have some peace of mind when going online, there are several Google alternatives that you can use, like Brave, which is less invasive and includes features like a built-in ad and tracker blocker.
4. Turn off location history
If you’re privacy conscious, changing your location settings should be a priority. Google uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to track you, sometimes even when you’re not actively using Google Maps. The company gathers so much location data (you can check that on your Timeline) that it can predict where you’re going and whether you are walking, biking, or driving.
Google collects this information to build a detailed profile of you. By analyzing your usual routes, Google knows where you live, where you work, where you drop your kids off at school, and what bars or restaurants you like to go to. Luckily, you can change your Google privacy settings and stop Google from tracking your location history.
Here’s how to turn off your location history:
- Go to the “Data & Privacy” section of your Google Account page.
- Scroll to “History settings” and click “Location History.”
- In Activity Controls, click “Turn off.”
- A window will open. Click “Pause.”
This won’t prevent Google from seeing your location when you’re using the Maps app. But it will stop Google from storing this data and using it to build an accurate profile of you.
When you receive the confirmation that history tracking is off, Google allows you to delete your old location data. If you choose this option, a new page opens up, showing you the places you’ve been through the years. At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see a bin icon. Click it to delete all your previously stored location data.
5. Turn off YouTube history tracking
YouTube records every video you watch and search for, from vlogs by your favorite influencers to instructional cooking videos.
The company uses this data to create “more personalized experiences across Google services.” Any YouTube video you watch— which can reveal a lot about who you are, your interests, and your beliefs — will automatically ripple across all Google services. Most notably, Google will use this data to make YouTube’s algorithm more efficient and its recommendations more accurate.
Google may even push people to more and more radical content using this YouTube data. This usually happens without you even realizing it. Kids and teenagers are especially susceptible to this. Many have also claimed that YouTube is not the safest website for kids.
Besides, the data is used as part of your profile, so you have every reason to prevent YouTube history tracking. Here’s how:
- Go to the “Data & Privacy” page in your Google account.
- Scroll to “History settings” and click “YouTube History.”
- In “Activity Controls,” click “Turn Off.”
- A new window will open. Click “Pause.”
This will stop Google from tracking your YouTube activity. We also recommend you delete your YouTube history when you pause tracking.
6. Stop targeted ads and personalized search results
Google shares your browsing data for ad targeting because they’re making a lot of money selling it to advertisers. Unfortunately, if you use Google services, you won’t be able to stop all this data from being collected. But you can adjust your Google privacy settings and minimize how much Google shares it across the web.
Here’s how to change your ad settings in Google:
- Go to “Data & Privacy” on your Google Account page.
- Scroll to “Ad Settings” and click “Ad Personalization.”
- Toggle off the blue control.
- Confirm your choice by clicking “Turn Off.”
You can also stop Google from showing you personalized results when you use the search engine. Here’s how.
- Go to “Data & Privacy” on your Google Account page.
- Scroll to “Personal results in Search” and click “On.”
- Toggle off the blue control.
This is helpful if you’re worried about sensitive data ending up in the wrong hands. Google might still have access to it, but they won’t share it with the highest bidder.
7. Exclude voice and audio activity tracking
If you use Google Home or any other voice-controlled Google assistant, there’s a good chance that Google is recording your voice or audio activity.
Don’t want Google to know more about you by saving these recordings? Here’s how to change this Google privacy setting:
- Go to “Data & Privacy” on your Google Account page.
- Scroll to “History Settings” and click “Web & App Activity.”
- In the “Activity Controls” window, ensure the box that says “Include voice and audio activity” is unchecked.
This will prevent Google from creating recordings of the voice commands you give to digital assistants. It’s one of the key privacy settings to enable if you use voice-activated assistants.
8. Change the new Chrome privacy settings
Google rolled out additional privacy settings for Chrome users this year. They mostly manage ad privacy, so you can take a look at what they change if you’re bothered by Google’s intrusive advertising. Here’s how to access the settings:
Remember:
Not all users have access to these settings yet. If you can’t find them in Chrome, chances are Google hasn’t launched them in your country yet.
- Open Chrome’s settings by clicking the three dots in the top-right corner.
- Open the “Privacy and Security” menu.
- Click on “Ad Privacy” in the settings menu.
- Disable “Ads Topics.”
- Click on the toggle for “Ad Measurement” to disable this setting.
- Disable “Site-Suggested Ads.”
Keep in mind that these settings will make your ads less targeted. But they will also limit how much data Google and its partners can snatch.
However, if you are using Chrome, you can also use browser extensions to enhance your online privacy and security.
9. Bonus Tip: Use NordVPN for complete online anonymity
Enabling all of the settings we discussed above will drastically improve your privacy on Google. However, it’s not enough if you want to be truly anonymous online. Google can still get crucial data like your IP address or physical location whenever you visit any site. Plus, Google isn’t the only big tech company not caring about mishandling user data.
If you want to be safe online no matter what, a reliable virtual private network (VPN) is a must-have. A VPN service will change your IP address and anonymize your identity online. Sites like YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter will only see the VPN’s server IP without being able to get your actual location.
We test hundreds of VPN apps on a regular basis, and we recommend NordVPN if you want to maintain your privacy online. It has high-end encryption and a no-logs policy proven by third-party audits. This means that NordVPN won’t collect your data, so you’re safer online. Best of all, you can get NordVPN free for a month through its 30-day money-back guarantee!
Other privacy tips and settings for Google
If you want your Google privacy to be airtight, here are some additional tips:
- Get rid of Google Chrome. While Chrome is a fast and easy-to-use browser, it’s a privacy nightmare. Many Google alternatives are just as good, if not better, such as the anonymous search engine DuckDuckGo.
- Take a look at the Inactive Account Manager. The Inactive Account Manager lets you determine what will happen to your account after a set period of complete inactivity. You can also set up to share your account with someone you trust.
- Update your passwords. By changing your passwords regularly, you are less likely to have your information stolen. You can also invest in a good password manager that can create strong passwords for you.
- Consider switching from Google services to privacy-minded providers. There’s a limit to how much privacy you can get from settings alone. If you store all of your important files in Google Drive, and you’re not switching search engines, Google can still know a lot about you.
- Clear browsing data from time to time. You can do this in Google’s privacy settings. It won’t have a huge impact on your Google records, but it can help.
Protect Your Data By Changing Your Google Privacy Settings
Google’s services may be convenient, but they’ve made its reach across the internet pervasive. It’s almost impossible to prevent Google from mining your data.
Luckily, there are some steps you can take to limit its impact. Changing your Google privacy settings, as we discussed above, will reduce your digital footprint to a certain extent. But there are other ways to protect your privacy.
One of the best ways to safeguard your privacy online is using a VPN. A VPN acts like an intermediary between you and the internet by encrypting your connection and routing it through a secure server. We recommend using a reliable VPN provider like NordVPN that offers robust AES 256-bit encryption and other enhanced security tools.
For more information on anonymous browsing and keeping your online data safe, check out the articles below:
- How to Delete Yourself From the Internet
- The Best Private Search Engines for Total Anonymity
- How to Clear Your Browser History From Any Browser
Are you wondering how to optimize your Google privacy settings? Do you have concerns about how much Google knows about you? Check out the FAQ section below for some quick answers.
Google makes money by selling your data to advertising companies. These are the main risks that arise out of that fact:
- The scale of Google’s data collection is invasive: every click you make and every website you visit is registered.
- Google has the power to influence our behavior, from what we buy to our political views.
- This data can always end up in the wrong hands, as it’s being used to create an accurate profile of you.
Google keeps all of its privacy controls in one place. Here’s how to get there:
- Visit your Google Account page.
- Sign in to your Google account.
- Click on “Data & Privacy” on the left side menu.
You can now run a “Privacy Checkup,: check your security settings, and stop Google from showing targeted ads and search results. We also recommend disabling “Web & Activity” tracking as well as YouTube and location history tracking.
To change Google location settings, go to the main privacy page in your Google Account and follow these steps:
- Scroll on the “Data & Privacy” page to “History Settings.”
- Click “Location History.”
- In “Activity Controls,” click “Turn Off.”
- A new window will open. Click “Pause.”
Now, Google won’t log your location history.
To manage which third parties get access to your Google data, follow these steps:
- Scroll on the “Data & Privacy” page to “Apps and Services.”
- Click “Third-party apps with account access.”
- Remove the apps you don’t want Google to exchange data with.
