How To Opt Out Of Google’s Private Personal Search

When you search on Google, you can see search results from the public web along with pages, photos, and Google+ posts from your friends and connections. You can also find relevant information from the content you have in other Google products that you’re using, like Gmail or Google Calendar, and get your upcoming flight information, your restaurant reservation, or your next dentist appointment information right on your search results page.

Private results in search – Search Help

If you happen to think that the above is not such a good idea, here’s how to opt out.

  1. If you are logged into your Google account, visit :
    Search Settings

  2. Select the radio button labeled :
    Do not use private results
    Google Opt Out of Personal Search

  3. Click on Save at the bottom of the page.

Is Google getting too personal?

I’ve been happily ducking Google Search these days with search engine DuckDuckGo. As Google bakes itself into more and more of our personal data, I find myself finding other products that have a healthier view of what a good user experience is. DuckDuckGo is one such product.

I highly recommend looking at search engine DuckDuckGo and learning the !bang syntax which makes DDG even more powerful. There may be some minor features that DDG lacks, but if you append !sp to a DDG search query, it will display private results pulled from Google. The !bang syntax allows you to search popular websites directly.

The controversy is still ongoing with some questioning Google’s view on privacy.

No, Google did not say that there is no privacy in Gmail – The Next Web

Maybe there is some privacy in email. Maybe not much.

Maybe, data is somewhat protected from humans peaking in (too easily), but I wouldn’t count on bots being given any restrictions in the near future.

Encrypted or not, it usually never turns out well when all of the eggs are put into one basket or one company.

For now though, there’re the 1-2-3 steps above to address one small area of Google’s quest to capture it all and make itself more engrained within our lives.

It’s nice that many are becoming aware of the issues involved and are realizing that greater convenience often comes at a price. When any service is free, the price too often is privacy and control.

So, sometimes we sacrifice a little convenience to send the right message.

Because,

Sometimes less personal, is the better approach.

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