Did You Know That Facebook Records Your Search History? Here's How to Delete It

Every time you search for anything on Facebook - from looking up an ex (we've all been there), to searching for bands or searching for the Facebook page of your favourite celebrity - it is stored as a part of your Activity Log. All this activity is stored as private, visible only to you (and presumably Facebook) so it's not necessarily a violation of privacy, but we're a little uncomfortable with the idea of all our searches being stored as a long term record.

Facebook says it stores these searches in order to show you relevant search results. But if you would rather not have this, erasing them is pretty simple. Just follow these steps:

1. Open this page on Facebook. Once you sign in, you'll be shown your entire search history on Facebook. To find it yourself, you can go to your Profile, then click on View Activity Log. On the left-hand side, find the section where it says Photos, Likes and Comments and click on MORE.
   
   
   Next, select Search from the list on the left.
   

2. To remove individual entries from this record, click the "Hidden from Timeline" button on the right side of each entry (it looks like a no-entry traffic sign), to the right of the lock icon. Click Delete and then Remove search in the pop-up, to remove the entry permanently.

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3. To remove your entire search history, just click the Clear Searches link on the top-right, to the left of the magnifying glass icon. Then click Clear Searches in the pop-up to remove these search items.

(Also see: How to Stop Google From Tracking You on the Web)

That should clear your search history on Facebook. Did you clear your search history or are you among those who don't mind if Facebook keeps a record of searches? Let us know via the comments.

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