We live in a time whilst our statistics on the Internet are very present. Marketing companies, pages, or services that we use, are always looking for a way to obtain data about us, our tastes, and the way we navigate. There is a record, a history, that always remains when we enter certain services or visit a web page. An example is YouTube, one of the most popular and used streaming video playback platforms. Our history is stored, and from there, we can receive suggestions and recommendations on similar videos or topics related to what we are looking for. In this article, we will explain how to avoid this and, at the same time, improve Privacy on YouTube.
How to stop YouTube from recommending videos
Surely on occasion,
we have looked for a video on YouTube, listened to a song, or visited a
channel, and from there, we see many related videos. For example, if we
see a review of a router from that moment on, videos of other routers, other
models of that brand, etc., begin to appear.
This may be
interesting if we really want to learn more about something in particular, but
it can also be a hassle. We may not want more videos to appear on a
specific topic. YouTube has an algorithm to show videos based
on our tastes, interests, searches we have done ... In short, it collects
information from users to offer them what they think is best for them.!@
Luckily we can prevent
YouTube from recommending videos. We can make it not show
us suggestions related to a topic or a channel.
Delete search history
One of the options
we have so that recommended videos do not appear is to delete
the search history. "Reset" everything we have
searched for on this popular platform. This way, it won't show us anything
related.
To delete the
search history, we have to go to our YouTube user, enter "Your
YouTube data," and go to YouTube
search history. Later we enter Manage
your search history, which appears below.
The latest searches we have made will
appear there. We can also filter by dates. In
this way, we can delete something, in particular, a specific period of time or, Digital Marketing Case Studies if we want, delete all the search history that it has collected.
Delete view history
We can also delete
the viewing history. In this way, we will delete the videos we have seen,
and the platform will not recommend related things. It is a bit in tune
with the above, except that this time we are going to erase the history of the
videos seen and not the searches.
To do this, we go
back to YouTube and go back to the "Your YouTube data"
section. On this occasion, we access to Manage
your reproduction history.
We can erase the
last viewed videos, filter by dates, or directly erase the history completely. Basically,
the same options we had previously.
Extension for Google Chrome
We have seen a
couple of options that come integrated with YouTube. However, we can also
make use of an extension. We already know that Google Chrome is the
browser most used by users today and offers a wide range of possibilities.
We can make use of
an extension that aims to eliminate the option
of recommending videos. This way, we will prevent videos related to
searches we do, etc., from appearing.
We can download it
from the official Chrome store. We always recommend
installing this type of program from official sources. In this way, we
guarantee to install software that has not been maliciously modified.
Watch videos in private mode
If we want to
prevent recommendations from appearing about videos that we have constantly
watched, one option we have at our disposal is to view those videos in private
mode. Today most browsers have an option to start in
incognito or private mode. In this way, no cookies or data from the sites
visited are stored. The same would happen with YouTube.
We can thus watch
videos without us having logged in and without the browser storing cookies. In
this way, when we open our account in the browser in normal mode, these viewed
videos will not appear, and they will not recommend related videos. One
more alternative to the previous ones that we mentioned. This function is
available in the main browsers such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.
How to protect Privacy when using YouTube
Beyond showing us
recommended videos or not, we can also take into account some tips to protect Privacy
when using YouTube.
One of the options
we have is to enter YouTube through the incognito mode of the browser. Today
modern browsers often have this option. In this way, no history or cookies
of our visit are stored. Therefore, no data is collected that can be used
by the platform to send us video recommendations.
We can also access
the privacy section within
YouTube. To do this, you have to go to Settings, and in
the section on the left, we click on Privacy. There we can configure
different parameters such as keeping our favorite videos hidden, the playlists private,
etc.
Likewise, we must
always have security programs that protect us on the
network. This will prevent us from being victims of malicious software
that can collect personal data and put Privacy at risk when browsing. There
are many options available to us, both free and paid, and there are them for
all types of devices and operating systems. It is one more alternative
with which to prevent our data from being exposed.
In brief, by following
those steps, we are able to prevent YouTube from sending us recommendations
based on our search and visualization history. A way to avoid being
inundated with videos on a specific topic that we may not be interested in. This
is how we keep our accounts clean. We can delete it at a specific time or
also from the beginning.
