How Does Google Track You?

Learning about how much Google knows about you is sometimes hard to comprehend. Google is no longer the most popular search engine in the world, over the last decade the company has managed to make its way into the lives of the Americans in many ways. As an example, Chrome, the most popular browser in the world, is owned by Google too. The browser transmits all sorts of data about your online habits to the tech conglomerate. While the search engine and the browser were the obvious ones, the tech giant from Northern California also maintains a history of all visited locations, your online shopping behavior, scans your email, and tries to learn more about you by monitoring your activity on Google-owned platforms such as YouTube or Gmail.

What does Google do with your information?

The information that Google collects is said to be anonymous and personal details such as names and addresses are generally not shared with third parties. Most of the times, the information collected by Google is used for marketing purposes and allows marketers to utilize the data, without revealing the identity of the end customers. Next time you see a suggestion for a restaurant means that probably Google’s algorithm believes that the restaurant they are advertising to you would be something you might enjoy. These recommendations are based on multiple things such as the type of restaurants you’ve visited in the past and the locations you’ve been to. Google claims that they collect all the information to make their products better and to provide you with more relevant advertisements.

How to stop Google from tracking you?

Completely stopping Google from tracking every aspect of your life is not an easy task but there are a few things that you can do to limit the technology giant from monitoring you. All you have to do is play a bit with the Activity Controls of your Google account. If you are reading this using a Google Chrome browser, or you’ve recently used your Gmail account, this link should take you straight to Google’s activity control dashboard where you can spend some time deactivating some of the trackers Google has on you using the toggle switches you see on screen.

And if you do not want to deal with all the hassle of switching off all their tracking tools, your best bet to prevent Google from tracking you is to stop using any of their services. This may not be the most convenient way to prevent them from spying, but at the end of the day, if you like their product, you should trust their judgment on how they handle your personal information too.

If deleting your Google accounts is not an option, but you think that getting access to funny YouTube videos should not allow Google to have access to almost all of your online life, you can always use reliable VPN connections that would help you to maintain your privacy. All you have to do is to not log in to any of your Google accounts while using the service. Hiding behind the VPN wall will give you the privacy you desire.