• by Shankar Gupta , April 21, 2005

Google Wednesday announced the beta release of Google My Search History, a feature that allows individual users to refine their queries by allowing Google to track their search history and referencing their search history with every search they do.

The service requires users to sign up--although Gmail users can just use their Gmail ID and password--to get Google started tracking their search histories. Once Google starts tracking, every query the user makes is recorded, and if he or she clicks on a results link, that result is also recorded. When a user enters a new query, the results page is accompanied by a "related history" link next to any search term when it appears. Users can also browse through their search history with a calendar, viewing when each search was made on what day. Users can also search the full text of any page which they reached from a Google results page.

The search history information is stored on Google's own servers, which raises questions about possible privacy concerns and use of the information for targeting advertisement. A Google spokesman said that the company does not plan to use information for any other purpose than to refine searches.

Users also have a number of privacy options that they can exercise themselves. The there is a button to "pause" the recording of queries for searches that users prefer not be saved, and searches already listed in the history can be deleted.