Do you ever search for a flight online and see one price, but when you search for it again, the price goes up? Well, that’s because your search queries are being tracked and retargeted to you for more. That’s why sometimes it’s better to search in incognito mode when using Google Chrome. Not sure what incognito mode is? Well, we’re here to break it down for you.

How To Turn On Incognito Mode

To browse in incognito mode, you need to open your chrome browser. When a new window opens, go up to the top left of your screen. Click file, and right below that, it should say “New Incognito Window”. Click on that option, and your screen will then turn black, signifying you are in incognito mode.

How Incognito Mode Works

When you first open a new incognito window, you create a browsing session that will include all tabs opened up on the window after that first one. In incognito mode, none of the information, browsing history, cookies, or site data entered in on your device are saved on your device. This means none of your activity or previous URLs will show up in your Chrome browser history, and others won’t be able to see your activity. In incognito, websites see you as a new user and don’t sign in to your accounts. So you are a guest who is just browsing without all of the tracking going on.

How It Protects Your Privacy

As mentioned earlier, when you search in incognito mode, everything you enter in the URL or click on is not recorded. Others will not be able to see what you searched or and they will not be able to go back into saved history because none of it saves on your device. Chrome doesn’t tell any of the websites that you are privately searching, which means you could log in to your accounts in multiple tabs and switch between the two without getting logged out. Incognito mode simply keeps the things you want private, private.

Things To Search For While On Incognito Mode

Because your search history can’t be retraced, here are a few things you should search for while in incognito mode:

• A gift for a loved one– whether it’s for a birthday, anniversary, surprise vacation, or even an engagement ring, searching for these where it can’t be retraced is a great idea to keep those secrets a secret!
• When you want to log into multiple accounts– private searching allows you to have two accounts logged in simultaneously.
• When you want a “pure search”– this means nothing you have liked, clicked on, or any other recommendations will influence your search results or what is ranked higher.
• When you need to research something private– give yourself the peace of mind to look up that medical history or a new job without others finding out before you are ready to tell them.
• When visiting sites you don’t want others to know– We get it, sometimes you might have a guilty pleasure you’re worried someone might find out about or sites that you visit that you really want to stay private, this is a great way to do just that.

 

So the next time you are searching for a present to get your significant other or planning a surprise vacation, consider searching in incognito mode while using the Chrome browser