The search engine giant Google Inc. (www.google.com) announced on April 25 that it has added a new feature on a trial basis, My Search History (www.google.com/searchhistory), which allows users to save and view the Web searches they conduct at the search engine’s website. Users can either use their Gmail e-mail address or login details of their registration at the Google Groups site (http://groups-beta.google.com) to use this service. New users can sign up for this service at www.google.com/searchhistory.
The history feature shows not only what terms users entered into Google’s search box before, but also which matching websites users clicked on, along with date and time stamps. A calendar view lets users browse through previous searches chronologically as well. In case users don’t want Google to track their searches after they have signed up for the service, there’s a “pause” button to temporarily disable Google’s gaze. Users can also sign out completely to stop all recording activity until they sign back in. A “remove items” button will erase all or some of their prior searches. Google isn’t the first search engine to offer this service, though. Yahoo, America Online, Ask Jeeves and A9.com offer search history services as well.
