Yan wrote:I've always assumed that Google uses cookies to track your searches and other information, and can use that to guess your location. Solution: delete Google's cookies, or all cookies, or use another search engine. And don't use Gmail or other Google services, of course.
Not sure why you think cookies are needed for tracking location. They're not tied to a physical location; they're tied to a device (which may or may not stay in the same place). As we've been discussing for this entire thread, IP address is a better indicator. If you really care about hiding your location, use a proxy to mask your IP.
There are indeed potential privacy issues with cookies, but tracking your physical whereabouts isn't one of them.
And as Redocbew notes, using another search engine doesn't hide you from Google because they are also the ad provider for a large percentage of web sites. As soon as you click a link, Google probably knows about it regardless of which search engine you used.