My Search History

Announcement
April 20, 2005

Ever find what you’re looking for with Google, but later forget what you found? If that sounds strangely familiar, welcome to Google’s latest experiment: My Search History. Launched today from Google Labs, this new service enables users to access and manage their Google search history from any computer. This announcement demonstrates Google’s commitment to creating innovative services that help people organize and access their information.

The My Search History service is available on the web at (www.google.com/searchhistory) and enables users to browse through a timeline of their past Google searches and even check the level of search activity on any given day. It also adds useful information to Google.com search results, including the number of times a user has visited a web page, and the last time they viewed it. Users will see links on the upper right corner of their Google.com homepage indicating whether they are signed into My Search History.

Google My Search History features include:

  • Full-Text Search: Users can search the full-text of any web page they clicked on from a Google search results page.
  • Related Searches: Shows related search history over time; so a user can review everything Google has ever shown them about "apples," "bass fishing" or "the wizard of oz," for instance, by clicking the "Related history" link next to any search term when it appears.
  • Integration with Google.com search results: When searching with Google.com My Search History users will be presented with relevant information about what they have already searched for and clicked on.
  • Graphical calendar: View which enables users to easily browse through their Google search activity per day. It features a light-to-dark green color scale indicating the level of search activity per day.

My Search History requires the user to register for a Google Account and their search history will only be made available to them if they are signed in to that account. All information is stored securely on Google’s computers thus enabling users to view their history from any computer. If they choose, users can temporarily "pause" collecting their search history by clicking the "Pause" button in the product interface. Users can also remove individual items from their history through the product interface or delete the service via their My Account page.

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