Google keeps a running record of what you search, watch and do - and it will show you almost all of it. Here is where to look, what you will find there and the settings that decide what gets saved from now on.
Most people have never looked. That is a shame, because the reality is a strange mix: some of the scariest things people believe about Google are out of date, while some of the quieter collection is broader than almost anyone realises. Ten minutes in your Google Account settles both - you can see what is stored, turn off what you do not like and set the rest to delete itself.
Last checked: 17 August 2026. Google moves its settings around regularly - we recheck the paths in this guide against Google's own documentation when they change.
How to see what Google knows about you: five places to look
The check is quicker than most people expect. Five places let you view your Google data, and between them they hold nearly everything:
- Google Dashboard (myaccount.google.com/dashboard) - the overview. A summary of every Google service you use and the data saved in each, with view and download buttons per service. Google notes that not every service appears here, so treat it as the map, not the territory.
- My Activity (myactivity.google.com) - the detail. A chronological log of searches, sites and videos, filterable by date, product and keyword. Each entry shows when, on which device and why it was saved. Your Timeline is not here - location lives separately.
- Your Timeline - in the Google Maps app only: tap your profile picture, then Your Timeline. There is no desktop version any more; from a computer you can only turn Timeline off or delete all of it, not browse it.
- My Ad Centre (myadcenter.google.com) - the advertising profile. The Topics and Brands tabs show what Google uses to pick your ads, with more-like-this and fewer-like-this controls on each, and a Manage privacy tab listing the account information, categories, activity and areas used for ads.
- Google Takeout (takeout.google.com) - the full archive. Export a copy of your data across Google products as zip files (up to 50GB each), delivered by email link or straight to cloud storage. Links expire after about a week, and the export excludes anything already deleted.
What data does Google actually collect about you?
If you use Google while signed in, the record can include:
- Your searches and activity across Google products - saved under a setting called Web & App Activity, along with details like the device you used and why each item was saved.
- Your YouTube history - videos watched and searches made, held together under YouTube History.
- Your location trail - but only if you opted in. Since Google rebuilt the feature in 2024, Timeline (what used to be called Location History) is off by default and the trail is stored on your phone rather than on Google's servers, with an encrypted backup as an option. If you never turned it on, there is no map of your movements to look at.
- Your Chrome browsing - under conditions. Using Chrome does not by itself write your browsing into your Google Account. That happens only if you sign in, choose to sync history and leave the Chrome box ticked inside Web & App Activity.
- Your voice - only if you ticked the box. Recordings of your voice interactions are kept only if you turned on an optional setting that Google says "is off unless you choose to turn it on".
- Purchases and bookings made through Search, Maps and Google's assistants, gathered on a purchases page most people have never seen.
- Device information - if you use an Android phone with Google apps, it periodically reports device and connection details, and which apps you have installed.
- An advertising profile - the topics and brands Google uses to pick the ads you see, built from the activity above.
How Google collects data when you're not using Google
The part most people miss has nothing to do with the search box. When you visit a site that uses Google's services, your browser automatically sends Google the address of the page you are on and your IP address - Google's own documentation says exactly that. Google Analytics alone runs on roughly half of all websites, according to the survey firm W3Techs, and Google's advertising cookies do similar work for ads on non-Google sites. None of this needs you to be on google.com, though what it feeds into depends on your ad settings.
The honest summary: the famous stuff (reading your emails for ads, following your every move by default, listening through the microphone) is not how it works today. The unglamorous stuff - searches, viewing history and a steady ping from half the web - is the actual record.
How to stop Google saving so much
Everything above is controlled from the Data & privacy section of your Google Account, under what Google now labels History settings:
- Web & App Activity - turn it off and Google stops saving your searches and activity. Note the two separate choices Google offers: "Turn off" stops future saving, while "Turn off and delete activity" also clears the past. Turning off alone deletes nothing.
- YouTube History - same control, same distinction, managed from My Activity.
- Timeline - if you did opt in, you can turn it off or delete it any time from the Timeline section of your account or in the Maps app.
- Auto-delete - the middle path most people actually want. Keep the features, cap the memory: activity older than 3, 18 or 36 months deletes itself. Google's defaults lean long (18 months for new accounts' Web & App Activity, 36 for YouTube, 3 for a newly enabled Timeline), so setting everything to 3 months is the single quickest win in this guide.
- Ad personalisation - switch it off in My Ad Centre. Be clear about the trade: Google says you will see the same number of ads, just less accurately aimed.
- Third-party access - while you are there, review which apps and services you have connected to your Google Account over the years, and cut the ones you no longer use.
How to delete what Google already has
In My Activity you can delete a single item, a date range, a product's worth or everything at once ("Delete", then "All time"). Timeline has day-by-day and delete-all options in the Maps app. Two honest caveats belong next to the delete button. First, it is genuinely permanent on your side - as Google puts it, once you erase your search history, you cannot get it back. Second, deletion is not instant on Google's side: its retention policy describes a deletion process taking around two months, backup copies persisting for up to six and narrow categories kept longer for legal and business reasons.
Separately, if Google Search results show your personal details - your home address, phone number or email - you can ask Google to remove those results using its removal request form, which applies under what Google calls globally applicable policies. Its newer "Results about you" monitoring tool is rolling out by market, so treat that one as a bonus if it appears for you.
The genuinely nuclear option, deleting the whole account, takes your Gmail, Drive files, photos and Play purchases with it. Google allows recovery for a limited time after deletion but publishes no exact window, so treat it as final.
Does Google read your emails?
Not for advertising - and it has not since 2017, when Google announced it would stop using Gmail content for ad personalisation. Its current help page states plainly: "We will not scan or read your Gmail messages to show you ads." Free Gmail accounts still see ads, but they are aimed using your other signed-in activity, not your messages. Gmail's smart features (package tracking, Smart Compose and the Gemini features) do process message content to work - in the UK they are off by default, so you have them only if you opted in - and Google states it does not use your Gmail content to train its AI models. The same boundary covers Drive and Photos: content is processed to power your own search and spam protection, and Google's policy states it does not show personalised ads based on content from Drive, Gmail or Photos.
Why Google collects it - and how long it keeps it
The business model is advertising, and the more precisely an ad can be aimed, the more it is worth. Google's often-quoted line that it "never sells your personal information to anyone" is accurate as far as it goes - but the full picture is that Google does not need to sell your data, because it sells your attention, using the data itself to aim the ads and sharing only non-identifying information with partners. Your record is the raw material either way.
On retention: some data stays until you remove it, some expires on its own schedule - Google says it anonymises advertising data in its server logs by removing part of the IP address after nine months and cookie information after eighteen - and some persists until the account is deleted. Under the UK's data protection law (UK GDPR) you also hold formal rights to access, correct and request erasure of personal data, though erasure is not absolute and Google's legal retention carve-outs sit within that.
If you want to give Google less
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Fully de-Googling is a big lifestyle project, and for most people an unnecessary one - the settings above do the heavy lifting. The lighter-touch moves that genuinely shrink the record: use a different search engine for the searches you would rather not log anywhere, keep Chrome sign-in and history sync off if you do not need cross-device history, and remember what a private window does and does not do - our guide to what incognito mode actually hides covers exactly where Google can still see you.
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The ten-minute check worth doing
Open myactivity.google.com and scroll. Open the Maps app and check whether Timeline is on. Glance at your Topics in My Ad Centre. Then make two decisions: what to delete and what auto-delete window to set. That is the whole exercise - you will know more about your own record than the vast majority of users, and everything new now expires on your schedule. For the wider picture beyond Google - the brokers, pixels and profiles across the rest of the web - start with our guide to your digital footprint.
Frequently Asked Questions About What Google Knows
Does Google track me in incognito mode?
An incognito window stops your browser saving the session locally and signs you out, so the activity is not written to your account history. But if you sign in during the session, that activity is recorded as normal, and Chrome's own incognito notice says data collection by the sites you visit, including Google, does not change. Our guide to incognito mode has the full picture.
Can I delete everything Google knows about me?
Very nearly. Delete all activity in My Activity, clear your Timeline and delete the account itself if you want to go all the way. Google's own policy notes the limits: deletion works through its systems over around two months, backups can persist up to six and narrow categories are retained longer for legal and business reasons.
How long does Google keep my data?
It depends on the type. Activity you control stays until you delete it or your auto-delete window removes it. Advertising data in server logs is partially anonymised on a schedule Google publishes - part of the IP address goes at nine months, cookie information at eighteen. Some account data remains until you delete the account.
Does Google sell my personal information?
No - Google states it never sells your personal information to anyone. The nuance worth knowing: it does not need to, because advertisers pay Google to reach audiences that Google builds from your data. Your information stays with Google; the targeting it enables is the product.
Why do I see ads for things I've only talked about?
Not because anything was listening. Ad systems predict from your searches, locations and patterns, and the frequency illusion does the rest - you remember the one uncanny hit and forget the misses. We unpack the whole mechanism in why your phone isn't listening.
Is Google Takeout everything Google holds about me?
It is the fullest copy you can get, but not literally everything. The export covers your content and activity across Google products, and excludes data already deleted or mid-deletion. Server-side records like the partially anonymised advertising logs are not part of your archive, and the Dashboard itself notes that not all services appear.