Google Web History helps find what you've seen

Stephen Withers
Monday, 23 April 2007 06:34

Your IT - Home IT

A decade ago, Microsoft asked "where do you want to go today". Now Google is offering to answer the question "where did you go yesterday, and the day before, and..."

Now, Google Web History lets you search for pages you've already seen. That would often be advantageous, as it's not unusual to think "I saw something about that on the web recently, but where was it?"

The Google Toolbar's PageRank feature has long enabled the company to keep a pretty good history of the web pages people view. It's not foolproof, as Google uses a combination of cookies and IP addresses to distinguish 'users,' which doesn't provide a one-to-one mapping to individuals.

If you're logged into a Google account - perhaps to use Gmail, AdSense or Docs & Spreadsheets - then Google knows who you are. Assuming, of course, that you provided some genuine information when you signed up for that account.

Google Web History searches cover the pages you've viewed and the Google searches you've performed. While you can limit them to the latter but not the former, which would be handy.

"If you remember seeing something online, you'll be able to find it faster and from any computer with Web History," wrote Google's product manager for personalisation, Payam Shodjal in the Official Google Blog.

"Web History lets you look back in time, revisit the sites you've browsed, and search over the full text of pages you've seen. It's your slice of the web, at your fingertips."

But there are privacy considerations, which we'll discuss on the following page.