google: How to disable search suggestions on Google Chrome using smartphone, PC

Search suggestions on web browsers are prompts that appear as both short and long-tail keywords after the user enters the search term. It lists the related keyword based on the query entered by the user. The results are then generated from the keywords entered on the search bar. At times, the user may not want the search suggestions to appear and would want to turn them off.

Introduction Google Chrome is one such web browser that offers search suggestions that pops-up after a user enters the related search keyword in the search bar. Like other web browsers, search keywords help enhance the browsing experience of users. The suggestions list is different from search history as it predicts the search terms even when a user types for the first time. The autocomplete feature on Google promptly lists the search results on the screen. One can turn off or hide certain suggestions by digging into the browser’s settings.

Prerequisites:

Active internet connection

Google account linked to Chrome

Latest version of Chrome is installed on the PC/smartphone.

To remove Google search suggestions from smartphones, follow these steps:

1.

Click on the three dots on the top right corner of your chrome browser

2.

Click on “Settings” in the dropdown

3.

Select and click on “Sync and Google Services”

4.

Scroll down and turn the toggle off for the “Autocomplete searches and URLs” option

To remove Google search suggestions from PC/laptop, follow these steps:

1.

Open the Chrome web browser.

2.

Go to the Settings menu by clicking on the three dots that appear at the top right corner of your screen, then ‘Settings’

3.

Under the ‘You and Google’ tab, tap on ‘Sync and google services’.

4.

Under the other service section, turn off ‘Autocomplete searchers and URLs’

5.

Type in the ‘Address bar’ to check.

Conclusion Following the above-mentioned steps, users will no longer be prompted with search suggestions. Check by typing a search query in the address bar. In case it does not work, try and restart your browser.

Recently, Google has launched a price drop feature that notifies users if the price of a product drops on an e-commerce website. As mentioned earlier, Google generates autocomplete suggestions by analysing the search contents of the webpage. Thus, Google is able to suggest price drops by tracking the data on the e-commerce website.

Search suggestions are not only used by search engines. E-Commerce websites are known to include search suggestions to boost their sales. Some users have criticised the text suggestions citing privacy issues. They say that suggestion text boxes send data to a central server, and thus mimic pop-up ads behaviour.