Updated on: September 2, 2024
Google collects tons of personal information about its users. Whenever you search for something, click on a search result, fill out a Google form, or use a service like Google Docs, it logs that data for future use.
Many consider this a gross invasion of privacy. Regardless of how you feel about it, this data harvesting has serious implications. I wrote this guide to help you learn exactly how Google collects data about you, what it does with that information, and how you can avoid being spied upon.
The best solution is to adjust your settings to maximize privacy and to use a good VPN. Google also offers ways to turn off nearly every aspect of its tracking data. But the more comprehensive option is to use something like ExpressVPN to fully encrypt your outgoing network data. This will make it so Google, your ISP, and the websites you visit can’t gather any decipherable information about what you do online. Editors' Note: ExpressVPN and this site are in the same ownership group.
What Kind of Information Does Google Collect?
Google collects all kinds of personal information about everyone who uses its services. Among other things, the company uses this data to make its internal ecosystem work properly and improve user experience. Note that while other big tech companies like Apple and Microsoft track users in a similar fashion, I’m going to keep my focus on Google for this article.
Google keeps more tabs on its users than even the most disorganized web user has open on their browser. This includes many different kinds of information, such as:
- Location data: Google almost certainly knows where you live and work. Whether from your IP address, your phone or laptop’s GPS chip, your regular use of Google Maps, or, more likely, a combination of all of the above, Google probably knows where you spend your time. It can even track you in real time. While that sounds Orwellian, Google gives you the option to disable all location tracking. If all this physical tracking concerns you, you should disable location tracking immediately.
- Search and website history: If you use Google’s search engine or the Chrome browser, Google can track everything you search for and each website you visit. Even using Chrome’s Incognito mode isn’t very effective, since Google can still see the websites you visit. This means that Google has seen everything you’ve ever looked up (yes, even that).
- Tracking information and cookies: Whenever you visit a website, that website stores some of your information through the use of trackers and cookies. These are essential for certain helpful functions, but they can say a lot about you. Both the third-party website and Google (if you use Chrome) have access to these caches and the story they tell about you.
- YouTube history: Every time you watch a video on YouTube, Google logs your activity. This is used to send you more relevant videos and tweak the algorithm for each user. This can have positive effects, like finding fun new content creators you like, but it can also have insidious effects, like manipulating you toward a specific viewpoint.
- Device data: Though it’s open source, Android is still owned by Google. If you use an Android phone, Google will know your battery usage, app usage, device model, and more. Google then uses this to help create new patches or push certain app advertisements. Even if you don’t have an Android, the company can still learn things about your device if you use any of its services, like YouTube, Gmail, or the Google search engine.
- Personally identifiable information (PII): Google collects some PII, including your full name, email address, phone number, contacts, and more. Google uses this information to guide your searches and ad interactions.
- Ad interactions: Google also records how you react to the many ads it sends your way. It knows whether you’ve skipped an ad or watched it to completion. It processes that information to determine what type of advertisements to send you in the future.
Why Does Google Collect Data?
Google obtains information for 2 simple reasons: to improve its ecosystem and to make money by sharing your data with advertisers.
Google processes data about hundreds of millions of users. It processes this information in order to optimize its algorithms, ad-delivery mechanisms, and other internal systems. For example, Google records how people interact with its search engine with the aim of providing more tailored results. Personally, I would argue that tailored results aren’t necessarily better, but that’s neither here nor there. It also incorporates user data to create new security and compatibility patches that make Google easier to use on certain devices.
But the biggest reason Google collects data is to forward the company’s unrelenting pursuit of profit. Unlike many smaller companies that simply sell user data to third parties, Google has an entire internal ecosystem dedicated to making advertisers bid to send ads to target groups. Google doesn’t sell that data in any straightforward way. Advertisers pay the company to make use of its data. In short, Google uses your data to profile you into different groups and other companies pay Google to learn more about users and send ads to selected groups.
For example, suppose the ad team for a toy maker wants to run ads. They want to spend their money appealing to those most likely to buy their products. One way to do this would be to target ads at teenagers who watch a ton of superhero videos on YouTube. The ad team pays Google to find out which users fit that bill. Then, if you are a teenager who watches heaps of MCU videos, you’ll start seeing more toy ads.
This may not sound so bad, but as you’ll see in the next section, it carries a lot of insidious implications. Using a quality ad blocker is helpful for avoiding these advertisements, but it’s important to know what Google is actually doing under the hood.
What Are the Dangers of Google Obtaining My Info?
For the most part, the dangers are subtle but nonetheless real. In Google’s defense, it does not sell your user data to third parties as many companies do. It hoards this data and releases it to others in an anonymized form. It puts every user into various ‘segments’. For example, based on their internet history, a single user might be placed in the dog lover segment, the London resident segment, the politically radical segment, and the female aged 25 to 34 segment. This might not sound too bad, but the potential for abuse and breaches is ever-present. And the outcome of compromised data could be devastating for many users.
Here are a few examples of how Google’s data collection and user segment system could backfire on you:
- Data breaches: Hackers are constantly probing Google’s cybersecurity defenses, waiting to find an opening, so they can deploy malware that helps them gain administrative control. Should a hacker succeed, they would theoretically have access to all of the information that Google obtained about you. This would include search history and location data. Though nothing affecting all of Google’s user data has yet happened, the internet has seen scores of breaches involving personal information. You can use data breach monitoring tools like Norton’s to check whether you’ve been impacted by any breaches.
- Targeted ads: Google allows advertisers to place bids on different user segments; the winner gets to run their ad. This allows advertisers to deliberately target you and greatly increases the chance you’ll see their ads. This can even be done in a discriminatory manner, such as sending the same product to 2 groups but with different prices and presentations. In the past, Google has even come under fire for its search engine discriminating against minority groups.
- Targeted misinformation (propaganda): The targeting framework that advertisers get access to is also available to others. On the more innocent side, this can be used to spread political messages. But media companies or individuals can also pay to send propaganda or deliberate misinformation to targeted user segments.
- Privacy concerns: This is more personal, but you may simply not want a company to know so much about you. Google is always watching your search history, the websites you visit, and other things like your political stances, interests, and personal habits. In my opinion, this is a blatant intrusion of privacy.
- Data misuse: There’s always a chance that Google might misuse your data. It’s not at all hard to imagine the company submitting user data to authorities, failing to anonymize it before sharing it with advertisers, or using it in ways that aren’t disclosed. While Google has a decent track record of properly handling these things, the risk will always linger in the background.
How to Prevent Google From Collecting My Information?
Change Your Privacy Settings
Google offers dozens of options to tweak every aspect of your privacy settings. You can prevent websites from seeing cookies, turn off all location tracking, and stop apps from using your microphone and webcam, to name just a few options for privacy-conscious users. There are tons of different settings, so maximizing privacy can be a bit overwhelming. But I’ve been through them all in order to point you to the most important actions you need to take to limit the data that Google collects about you.
Accessing the Privacy and Security Tab
To toggle your privacy settings, you’ll need to start by getting to the right tab.
- In the Chrome browser, start by clicking on the 3 dots at the top right of the window.
- That should open up a new menu. Within this menu, click Settings.
- Now click on the Privacy and security tab. You can find it under the Settings menu on the left side of the screen.
- You’ll find a lot of settings to play with, but there is one that I want to highlight. Under the list of Privacy and security options, click Ad privacy. In the next window, you’ll see a list of 3 categories related to ad delivery. I recommend toggling all of them off.
Any time you want to change your privacy settings, you can revisit this menu. Next, let’s go over a few important security settings.
Turning off Cookies
Cookies are used to store your browsing information. They can be very useful, for example by making it so a webpage will remember your credentials and log you in automatically. But companies also make use of invasive cookies to collect more about you than you probably want to share. Google follows up by collecting your website cookies as well, so turning them off is important if you’re trying to stay private.
To turn them off, simply do the following:
- From the same Privacy and security tab, click Third-Party cookies.
- Check Block third-party cookies. That’s it! No confirmation necessary.
- You can go a step further by fine-tuning your website permissions. Scroll down and choose See all site data and permissions. From there, you can choose specific websites and alter every part of the cookies they collect, including location data, personal information, passwords, and a lot more.
If you’re still with me after all of these complex steps, I commend you. Next, let’s go over how you can clear your browser data.
Deleting Browser Data
You can (and should frequently) delete your browser data. This increases your privacy by deleting any data that could have been viewed by Google (or other websites). As a little bonus, it can also increase the speed of your browser. Just know that doing so will automatically log you out of your accounts (including your Google account). Here’s how you do it:
- Click Delete browsing data.
- Choose Advanced.
- Check the box for each category of data you want to delete.
- Click Delete data.
Privatizing Your Activity Settings
Google tailors the results it delivers to you based on your history of using its various services. Arguably this is a good thing, as it can make said services more useful. But ultimately this is powered by extensive tracking of your activity. Turning these settings off will have some effects. Ultimately, there is a balance between maintaining your privacy and getting a more personalized experience when using Google’s services. The good thing is that you can turn these settings off temporarily to test the waters.
- From your Gmail inbox or any Google search results page, click on the grid of 9 dots in the upper right-hand corner, then click Account. Note that you need to be logged in to do this.
- You’ll be taken to a page showing all kinds of information about your Google account. Go to the list on the left side of the screen and click Data & privacy.
- Scroll down until you see a heading labeled History settings. Click Web & App Activity.
- You may want to turn this setting off to protect your privacy. There will be some consequences, however. When you turn this setting off, you’ll get more generalized results when using Google’s various tools. In my experience, Google Assistant became pretty much useless with Web & App Activity turned off. The good news is that you can turn it back on at any time.
When turning this setting off, you’re also given the option to clear your activity history. This will delete all the data about you Google has accumulated over the years. As a result, Google services will become far less personalized. If you turn it off without deleting your history, you’ll still get personalized results, they just won’t be impacted by your use of Google’s services going forward.
Alternatively, you can use the Auto-delete function to keep the service turned on but make it so all your data is automatically deleted after a specific period of time.
- Just below Web & App Activity, you’ll find a link to adjust your Timeline settings. Timeline is Google’s name for its record of your location and use of Google Maps. If you want to stop this tracking, click on Timeline. You’ll see that familiar Turn off button, which is followed by another confirmation box. Note that turning this off will have consequences. You won’t be able to view your Google Maps history, but then again nor will advertisers or Google itself. Again, like with your web and app activity, you can choose to delete your Timeline history, simply turn it off, or enable auto deletion of your data.
Viewing and Adjusting Your Ad Profile
Finally, it’s time to take a look at just what Google knows about you and tackle the issue of personalized ads. In the same Data & privacy tab, just below the History settings heading, you’ll see a box labeled Personalized ads. From here, you’ll be able to see the assumptions Google has made about you. Below this, there’ll be an option to turn off personalized ads. Here’s how:
- Under Personalized ads, click on My Ad Center,
- You’ll see a list of things Google has guessed about you based on your use of its services. This includes everything from your age, income, and relationship status, to the languages you speak and the ages of your children. If you like personalized ads, you can change any of these categories to reflect who you really are. Click on any of the boxes and give your information.
- If, on the other hand, you don’t want the ads you are forced to see to be based on who you are as a person, Google will let you turn off personalized ads. Scroll down past your personal information and you’ll see how Google personalizes your ads. There are 3 data sources Google uses for this: your web and app activity, your YouTube history, and the places you go. To put ad personalization to bed, click on each of the 3 options in turn. This will open up a new page where you can toggle personalized ads off.
- Whichever activity you click on, there’ll be an option to make it so ads won’t be personalized based on the chosen criteria. Use the toggle to turn ad personalization off and confirm your choice in the new window.
These are only a few of the important security settings you should review, but fortunately every option is as simple to configure as my examples.
Use a VPN
The best way to completely prevent Google from collecting your info is to use a VPN. A VPN encrypts your network traffic by routing it through a secure server. Anyone trying to snoop on the data of a VPN user will only see a series of random letters and numbers. And any good VPN uses military-grade encryption technology that no third party can decrypt.
Another benefit of a VPN is that you can appear as if you’re from a different geographical region. How does this relate to Google harvesting your personal information, you ask? If you’re connected to Google from a different region, it won’t be able to collect location tracking data from you. There are some caveats to this — for example, if your GPS chip is turned on, Google and other sites will still be able to track your actual location. But even in this example the VPN still encrypts your data, so everything but your location is protected.
Great VPNs like ExpressVPN include an array of additional features that further protect your privacy. ExpressVPN includes a killswitch to automatically turn off your Wi-Fi connection if the VPN disconnects, full data leak protection, an audited no-logs policy that ensures the company will never collect your data, and a tracker blocker.
Use a Secure Web Browser or Privacy Extension
The simplest way to stop Google from collecting your data is to stop using Google browsers. At the very least, you should install a secure privacy extension that prevents websites from using trackers to obtain information from right under your nose.
Secure web browsers like Norton Private Browser or the Brave Browser include built-in anti-tracking tools that block cookies, location tracking, and more. Norton Private Browser also encrypts your information, making it impossible for a company to read.
If you still want to use Chrome, you should at least install a cybersecurity extension that enhances your browser security. Bitdefender, for example, offers an anti-tracker extension that prevents third-party websites from collecting data on you. While it doesn’t prevent Google’s internal processes from collecting data, you can use it in combination with changing Google’s privacy settings to take full control over what a website can learn about you.
Editors' Note: ExpressVPN and this site are in the same ownership group.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Google collect data?
Google collects your data using a variety of methods:
- Tracking. Google employs top tracking devices to collect cookies, search history, pixels, and more from each website you visit.
- User-entry. Whenever you type into a form, Google obtains whatever you wrote. This includes names, addresses, emails, or even Google services that are unrelated to the search function.
- Third-party app use. Google watches you while you’re using a third-party app that uses something like Google Analytics.
- Device sensors. Google sees your location whenever you’re using apps with device sensors, like your GPS or the Maps app.
While this sounds like a lot, there are fortunately a few ways to prevent Google from keeping its eyes on you.
Can Google sell my information?
Google doesn’t sell your data directly, but what it does with your data is arguably just as bad. Google places you into various user segments based on the information it obtains from you. Advertisers then bid to place ads on your segment. It then directs ads from the highest bidder your way.
While it wouldn’t be the worst thing if it were just ads, Google also sends targeted information to its user segments. This includes websites with deliberate misinformation. If you and a friend have ever searched for the same thing while together and seen different or contradicting results, that’s the result of targeted information.
What are the best tools for hiding data from Google?
The best tools for hiding yourself from Google are a VPN, privacy extensions, and common sense. You can also adjust your privacy settings in Google to minimize what data it collects.
A VPN encrypts your outgoing network data, rendering it unreadable by Google. This solution doesn’t prevent your info from being collected, but it does make whatever is taken completely unusable. A good VPN will provide plenty of servers to pick from, extra security features like data leak prevention, and a kill switch to avoid leaks if the VPN shuts down.
Privacy extensions like Bitdefender Anti-Tracker prevent websites from collecting cookies, fingerprinting, and tracking scripts. This benefits you by decreasing how much Google can actually learn about you while providing a healthy boost to your overall browsing speed (you’d be surprised how much your browser gets bogged down by website trackers).
What’s wrong with Google collecting my information?
The simple answer is that it causes security, privacy, and profiling concerns. Google is a large target for hackers. If any of them ever crack Google’s defenses, every bit of the data the company collected from you (including location data) is available to the thief. Google’s data collection can also just feel like a massive invasion of privacy to some users, especially since Google collects more data than you might think.
The issue with profiling is a bit trickier. When Google collects data, it separates you into various user segments. Advertisers then place bids on these segments to run their ads in those spaces; these ads aren’t just limited to promoting products but can also focus on ideological beliefs, geographical locations, or targeted misinformation. To give an example of how it can discriminate, Google could place you in a certain user segment based on your ideological beliefs, then advertisers can bid to run targeted misinformation over the content you search for.