The Annoyance of Trending Searches
When you open a new tab in the Google Chrome mobile app on your smartphone and tap the search bar, you expect to see your own recent search history. Instead, Google often populates the dropdown menu with a list of “Trending Searches.” These are algorithmic suggestions based on what millions of other people in your region are currently Googling—usually celebrity gossip, breaking news, or sports scores. If you use your phone for focused work or research, having your search interface cluttered with irrelevant, highly distracting pop culture trends is incredibly frustrating. Fortunately, you can disable this feature and return your search bar to a clean, personalized state.
How to Turn Off Trending Searches
You cannot disable this feature from within the main Google Chrome app settings menu. Because the suggestions are generated by the Google search engine itself, you must change the setting on the Google website.
- Open the Google Chrome app on your smartphone.
- Navigate directly to the Google homepage by typing google.com into the address bar.
- Ensure you are signed into your primary Google account (look for your profile picture in the top right corner).
- Scroll down to the very bottom of the Google homepage.
- Tap on the small Settings link in the footer menu.
- Select Search settings from the pop-up menu.
Changing the Configuration
You are now in the core search configuration menu for your Google account.
- Scroll down the page until you locate the section labeled Autocomplete with trending searches.
- Select the option button next to Do not show popular searches.
- Scroll all the way down to the very bottom of the page and tap the blue Save button.
A small pop-up will confirm that your preferences have been saved. From now on, whenever you tap the search bar in Chrome, you will only see your own personal search history and relevant autocomplete suggestions based on the letters you are currently typing, completely free of algorithmic trending news.