Google is getting more aggressive about “helping you make searches faster and get customized experiences in Search, Maps, Now, and other Google products.” This “translates” into monitoring your search activity in order to monetize you – YOU are the product. These are not your friends just trying to be caring, so beware of your privacy settings.
Have you noticed ads repeatedly popping up elsewhere on your browser for items you have comparison searched on Google after you clicked several of the convenient picture shopping links?
Google’s privacy policy enables the company to share data across a wide variety of services. These embedded services include millions of third-party websites that use Adsense and Analytics. In the summer of 2016, Google quietly dropped its ban on personally-identifiable info in its DoubleClick ad service.
You can control your Google Experience and turn off the blue toggle switches to protect your privacy, although you may also lose some functionality you enjoy.
If you don’t want push notifications from Google+ you can just say “NO THANKS!”
In addition, you should control what information is collected through a Privacy Checkup of what you share on YouTube.
Facebook also has Basic Privacy Settings & Tools you should visit and use.
Here’s a handy link to Epic.org’s Online Guide to Privacy Resources.