Google announced today the launch of their new ‘My Account’ dashboard, allowing for better privacy and security controls, while also making it easier for users to control their settings for these things.

As Googles blog states:

Today, we’re rolling out two significant improvements to our privacy and security tools: a new hub for managing your Google settings called My Account, and a new site that answers important questions about privacy and security on Google.

My Account updates were made to try and help make users feel more secure about the Google-based tools they are using. In the past, Google users have felt that their services were not secure enough or felt like they were being “spied” on in the past. These days, security needs to be at the forefront of everything that happens online.

Google Product Manger, Guemmy Kim, was quoted as saying

My Account gives you quick access to the settings and tools that help you safeguard your data, protect your privacy, and decide what information is used to make Google services work better for you. It also provides more context to help you understand your options and make the right choices for you.

As Googles announcement last week in San Francisco, some of the new features that My Accounts offer are things like a step-by-step Privacy Checkup and Security Checkup. This was done to help users understand how their data is being used and where they can make changes to help secure it.

Another great feature they included is the ‘Ads Settings Tool’ which allows users control the ads they see. Google users have probably noticed that most Google-served ads on their site, Gmail and other sites that use the Google AdSense platform, that ads seem to be based on previous sites visited or searches made. So if there are any ads that users continue to see that they have no interest in clicking on, they can simply turn those ads off.

To get started using My Account, log in with your Gmail account at https://myaccount.google.com