To appease European privacy advocates, Google reduced the length of time it stores personally-identifiable search data.

Instead of 18 months, query information will only be stored for nine, reports the Associated Press. Google introduced the 18-month limit last year.

"With the new policy […] we will anonymize the IP addresses on our server logs after nine months […] a significant improvement in privacy terms [that] puts us ahead of the rest of the industry," said Global Privacy Advisor Peter Fleischer of Google. (Yahoo also stores personally-identifiable search data for 18 months.)

Fleischer also said the time reduction "[responds] to concerns […] raised by regulators, advocates and even users in general." A 20-page report was also filed with the EU's national data privacy officers, which criticized search engines' need to store user query data.

For its part, Google argues past data improves the search experience for everyone, including advertisers and users. The company uses previous searches, for example, to serve targeted ads on current ones. And to ensure users are aware of how their personal information, including past searches and computer IPs, helps refine search results, Google added a "More Details" link to its search page.

Changes to the length of time Google stores personal data will apply across Google Sites worldwide.