How to Clear Your Search History

How to Delete Your Search History

When you use the internet, all your activity is automatically tracked. Your browser creates a comprehensive list of every page you’ve ever visited, and your search engine of choice remembers what you’ve looked up, and uses this information to suggest other information and websites to you in the future. It’s possible to start from scratch and delete your browser history, but if you want to give your search engine the same treatment, you may need to take extra steps.

If you’ve been using Microsoft Bing to conduct your internet searches, you’re in luck, because the process for erasing your search history is incredibly simple. Follow these steps for deleting your search history within your Microsoft browser:

1. Make sure that you are signed into your Microsoft account.
2. Select the three bars next to your login and click “Search history.”
3. This will open a new page that shows every term you’ve ever searched. These terms are organized to provide insights into what kinds of things you’re typically looking for on the internet.
4. On the righthand side of the page is a box that says, “Clear your search history” with a button that gives you the option to “Clear all.”
5. If you click the “Clear all” button, you’ll be asked to confirm your choice.

Bing allows you to delete individual searches simply by clicking the trashcan icon that appears when you hover your mouse on the search term.

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If you’d rather clear a group of similar search terms, Bing gives you the option to search within your search history. If you’re shopping for a surprise gift, you could filter your search terms and simply delete all those that relate to your search. Bing also allows you to set a time limit on you search. If you want to delete all your searches from the past two months, you can do so.

Another option that Bing offers is the ability to turn your search history on and off.¹ When the slider for “Show new searches here” is toggled off you existing searches aren’t deleted, but no new information is saved to your search history until you switch it back on.

If you’re using Microsoft Edge as your browser, you can delete the history from your search bar by clearing your browsing data.² Open your settings and go to “Privacy, search, and services.” From there you’ll find the option to “Clear browsing data.” Also in Edge, you can use InPrivate windows while you browse to keep your search history from being saved by Microsoft.

Other search engines and browsers have their own methods of removing your search history, but this information is typically tied to an account. If you’re able to log in and view your account settings within the search engine or browser, you can typically locate options about privacy and security, which should allow you to delete your search history.

Why Erase Your Search History

Everyone has their reasons for keeping things private. Perhaps you’re using a public computer and you don’t want to leave any personal traces when you leave. If you share a computer with a loved one and you’re buying them a gift, you’d want to delete your search history to keep them from stumbling onto your research. Perhaps someone is a huge fan of a particular music group but would prefer to keep that information a secret.

If you revisit a website and find that it’s lagging or buggy, you may want to refresh your browser and erase your search history. This will force your browser to pull the most up-to-date version of that site and should eliminate lag.

Your browsers can collect a lot of information about you, just by logging the sites you visit. You’ve probably noticed that if you look at a shirt on a store’s website, you’ll see ads for that same shirt for the next few weeks. Most search providers are actively tracking your searches so that they can help advertisers put relevant ads in front of you while you’re trying to read an article. By deleting your search history, you can make it more difficult for websites to track you and your activity.

Erasing your search history can minimize the efforts of sites who would sell your information to data brokers. What you look up online can paint a more complete picture of your identity and be used to flesh out profiles on public record websites. The less information these data brokers have to work with, the less work you’ll have to do to get that information taken off the internet.

No matter the reason, erasing your search history can be a straightforward process and can make you feel more secure online.