How to Turn Off Trending Searches on Google

SEO

By Chris Barnhart On Nov 16, 2021

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Get Rid of Trending Searches & Google Autocomplete

We’ve all spotted some of the quirky or hilarious suggestions that can appear when we search on Google. While most of the time it can be interesting to see what’s trending, Google’s Autocomplete feature isn’t always helpful. 

Here’s how to turn off trending searches and Google Autocomplete on your browser: 

How Do Trending Searches Work?

As a business, Google aims to provide the best experience for its users as it can. Improving a user’s search journey with the Autocomplete feature is one of the ways Google tries to do so.

If Google can correctly predict your search, then it you’ll save time and effort. But how does Google know what you’re going to type?

Google Trends

Google Trends collects data from Google searches, then visualizes the frequency of search terms across different geographic regions and languages.

Google Trends operates like a data utilization tool that can track real-time events or other short-term trends. You can view Google Trends data from the the last seven days or by a specific range (from 2004 up to 36 hours ago). 

Google uses Trends to predict what you’re searching for, based on what everybody else is searching for too: 

Is Autocomplete the Same as Google Trends?

No. Autocomplete will try to predict the user’s search with the help of Google Trends. However, these are two different features.

Why Remove Trending Searches and Autocomplete?

As useful as trending searches can be, many also find these suggestions annoying. 

Turning the feature off can also give us a sense of privacy too. Users are more aware of the ways businesses like Google and Facebook track their online activity. It’s now common to track user activity across devices or platforms, which can easily attribute the things you search for, the pages you visit, and the things you buy to you as an individual.

Companies often use this data to market products or services to you, based on what you like, your shopping patterns, and your predicted lifestyle. 

Many users are taking steps to make their web browsing more private, including turning off predictive features or trending searches that use data to predict their behavior. 

How to Turn Off Trending Searches and Google Autocomplete

Here’s how to turn off both features:

How to Turn Off Trending Searches on Mobile

If you’re using a mobile browser and want to get rid of trending searches, simply:

1. Open a browser on your phone.
2. Visit google.com.
3. On the top left of the page, select Menu and then Settings.
4. Find Autocomplete with Trending Searches and select Do not show popular searches.
   

How to Turn Off Trending Searches on Desktop

If you want to remove Google trending searches on a desktop: 

1. Open google.com in your browser. 
2. At the bottom right-hand side of the webpage, select Customize Google Chrome:
   

3. Click on Settings:
   

4. Select Search Settings from the pop up menu. 
5. Find the Autocomplete with Trending Searches settings. Select Do not show popular searches.
   

How to Turn Off Trending Searches in The Google App

If you use the Google App to search on Google, you can remove Google Trending search using the steps below:

1. Open the Google app on your phone or tablet.
2. Select your profile picture or initials at the top right of the page.
3. Select Settings and then General.
4. Find the Autocomplete with Trending Searches option and move the toggle from right to left, so that this is switched off:

How to Turn Off Google Autocomplete

If you’re want to Google Autocomplete on Chrome:

1. Click the three dots on the top right of the screen to open the Chrome menu.
2. Select Settings.

3. Navigate to the Autofill section:
   

4. Select the elements you want to disable.

You can repeat these steps to turn off autocomplete on your mobile Chrome browser. 

Key Takeways

• Google Autocomplete can help find trending searches or improve a user’s search journey. However, Google does offer the option to turn the feature off. 
• You can turn off trending searches and autocomplete on desktop and mobile devices.