What Google Knows About Me

Would you like to know what Google knows about you too?

Ever wondered what Google knows about you? If Yes, then check this out.

It is no secret that the vast majority of IT companies have the same intention, i.e., to track the actions of consumers of their products i.e., us, ordinary users. 

These companies earn by knowing a lot about users and, accordingly, about what they can sell to them.

Not all users are satisfied with the fact that data on their behavior is stored on the servers of a company.

Luckily, there is an option to see what exactly, for example, Google knows about you.

Your Profile On Google

We use a browser and maps, write emails, make purchases on the Internet - all this has become a part of our life. When signing up for a google account(Gmail/YouTube/PlayStore etc.) we fill in few basic details and then over a period of time we keep on adding some more in order to use the google services. Accordingly, Google creates a profile with your basic data - age, gender, interests and uses this data to display relevant ads. You can view the stored information about yourself here:

www.google.com/ads/preferences

Here you can change this data or even disable the display of interest-based ads on Google services such as Google Search, Gmail, YouTube, and Google Maps.

History of Your Movements

If you are a smartphone user and have an Android device, it can send your coordinates and speed to Google. The entire history of your travels and trips can be viewed at:

maps.google.com/locationhistory

You will be surprised at the information that Google collects about you and all of your adventures, travels and trips.

History of Your Search Track

Google keeps a track of what you are looking for online. It saves every search you have ever made and also monitors all ads that you clicked on earlier. All this data is available at:

history.google.com

In the settings option, you can delete entries about the search history for a certain period of time or delete entries manually. You can view minimal analytics by your search queries, sort them by subject and type (search by words, pictures, etc.). You can also explore your favorite sites and queries (judging by the search history).

Devices Connected to Your Account

Everything here is primarily concerned with security. If you are curious or feeling suspicious to know whether someone else is using your account, you can see a list of all devices that have access to your account along with their IP addresses and locations at:

security.google.com/settings/security/activity

Once here, you will be able to see a summary of all the devices that are/were connected to your account, and with a "keen eye" to determine if they were yours or someone else was wandering around.

Programs with Your Account Data Access

Every now and then we use some applications on our devices and most of these applications give us the option to sign in via Google account. By doing so we allowed them to have access about some of our data stored on our Google account.

List of all such applications that have any access to your data can be seen here:

security.google.com/settings/security/permissions

Here, you can see what rights they have and what they have access to. You can also revoke this access.

Export All Your Data from Google

Google provides the ability to pump out all your data that it has collected over many years, centuries and millennia such as: Bookmarks, E-Mails, Contacts, Files from Google Drive, YouTube Videos, Tasks, Offline Travel History and much more at:

google.com/takeout

You can choose and configure export conditions.

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