How to remove Google search suggestions from your mobile
There are Google features that can be very useful but, depending on the situation, they are not so practical. Therefore, it is possible that on more than one occasion you have asked yourself how to remove Google search suggestions from your mobile.
If you want the system to not automatically show you alternatives or search options when you do a search from your phone, you can make some adjustments.
What are Google search suggestions and what are they for?
These are words that appear automatically when you write something in the Google search bar. They are designed to predict what you are looking for and offer you a quick and precise answer with less effort on your part.
For example, if you search for “restaurants in Madrid” you may see suggestions such as:
Trendy restaurants in Madrid.
Michelin star restaurants in Madrid.
Original restaurants in Madrid.
These suggestions are the result of different factors:
Your previous search history.
Popular searches on that topic.
Your geographic location.
The device you use (suggestions may not be the same if you browse from your mobile as if you do so from your computer).
The content of websites related to that topic that you have visited.
With this system, Google aims to help us save time when performing searches and to discover new topics or products of interest to us. Precisely for this reason, it tries to adapt the suggestions to your interests and your search history, thus achieving a more personalized experience and greater user satisfaction.
The system works so well that Google has incorporated search suggestions or other services such as Google Play.
Why might it be interesting to eliminate suggestions from the Google search engine?
Making the adjustments we are going to see on your mobile can be useful for:
Improving your privacy
By deactivating suggestions, you reduce the amount of data that Google can collect about your interests and search habits.
In addition, if you have searched for something very private or that you do not want to be publicly associated with you, by deactivating suggestions you prevent these topics from appearing again in searches that you may perform in the future.
Increase your control over results
Without suggestions, you have more freedom to explore different search terms and discover unexpected results. You also get rid of biases and get a more neutral and objective search.
Reduce distractions
If you are one of those who are easily distracted by suggestions and forget what you were going to search for in the first place, disabling suggestions will help you to be more focused on the information that interests you.
Also, since you do not have to evaluate the different suggestions that Google offers you, you will save time every time you use the search engine.
Avoid inappropriate results
There are times when suggestions refer to content that is not appropriate for all types of audiences or that, simply, does not interest you. By simply disabling suggestions you avoid these types of situations.
Does incognito mode affect search suggestions?
If you browse in incognito mode, the browser does not store search history, cookies or other browsing data. So when you close the window, all information is deleted. However, you may have noticed that when you act as an incognito user, you are also shown search suggestions.
The thing is that these are not personalized but generalized. If you want to not see search suggestions of any kind, then you have to disable this feature in the browser.
How to remove Google search suggestions
As practical as this feature may be, you may not be interested in using it. If so, don't worry, because it is possible to remove these suggestions. The steps to follow depend on the browser you use.
Google Chrome
Open the browser.
Click on the three-dot icon that appears in the upper right corner of the screen.
Select “Settings”.
Click on “Synchronization and Google services”.
Uncheck the “Autocomplete searches and URLs” checkbox.
Firefox
Open the browser.
Access the “Settings” options by clicking on the three-line icon.
Access “Settings” > “Search”.
Turn off the “Show search suggestions” option.
Edge
Open the browser.
Go to “Settings” > “Privacy and security”.
Uncheck the “Show me search suggestions and sites using the characters I type” box.
Opera
Open the browser.
At the bottom right of the screen you will see the user icon. Click on it to open the menu.
Select
Toggle the gear icon.
Select “Search” and uncheck the “Suggested sites” box.
Disable the personal results feature
Every time we perform a search on Google, it collects data and can thus learn much more about us. In this way, it can offer us totally personalized search results, but in your case you may not be interested in this technological giant making use of the information it has about you. If so, you can disable the personal results feature to protect your privacy.
To do this, we will follow the path “Settings” > “General” > “Search trends” and here we will disable the autocomplete option. From that moment on, none of the searches we do on Google will be related to personal results from queries we have previously made.
Once we have chosen to eliminate the suggestions from the Google search engine or the personal results feature, if we later change our mind and want to activate them again, all we have to do is follow the same steps we have seen for deactivation.
Removing Google Search Suggestions is a very personal decision that you should make based on your privacy and user experience priorities. Removing them will give you more privacy and more control over your results, but it will also result in less personalization of your results and a bit more tedious searching. You decide what is most worthwhile for you.