# Personalizing your results

The Google Assistant uses different types of information to make your experience
more useful and relevant. [Depending on your
settings](https://support.google.com/assistant/answer/7126196), the Assistant
will reference data in your Google Account to get you what you need when you ask
for help. For example, if you ask, "When is my next meeting?", the Assistant
answers your question using information from your Calendar. Or if you ask "Do I
need an umbrella tomorrow?" the Assistant uses your current location to give you
the most relevant answer. When you ask Google Assistant for something that
requires personal information on a shared device, such as a smart display or
smart speaker, the Assistant attempts to recognize you using technologies such
as [Voice Match](https://support.google.com/assistant/answer/9071681) or [Face
Match](https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9320885) to protect your
privacy. If you have not enabled those features or turned on [Personal
Results](https://support.google.com/assistant/answer/7684543) on the device you
are using, the Assistant will not give you personalized results on that device.
Even if Assistant recognizes you, some information, such as your work calendar
appointments, may not be available based on the privacy configuration set by
your company's system administrator.

You can also use the [My
Activity](http://myactivity.google.com/item?restrict=assist) web site to view,
manage, and delete your activity with Google services, and to manage the
activity controls in your Google Account that let you decide what data is saved
and used across Google services. For some types of activities and content, such
as news and recipes, you can set specific preferences in the [settings
page](https://support.google.com/assistant/answer/9193492) for Google Assistant.

Google Assistant always uses other criteria, such as overall popularity and
average user ratings for content, and not just your own activity to determine
the best responses to your requests. When you access other services through
Assistant, such as music or video streaming, those services may apply their own
ranking systems and personalization criteria to respond to your requests.

Depending on what you ask Google Assistant, it may also ask you to use the
context of your device or your environment to better help you. For example, if
you ask Assistant to navigate to the nearest grocery store, it may use the
geographic position of the device you are using to find a nearby store and then
provide you with directions. Similarly, if you ask Assistant, "Are the kitchen
lights on?", it may use information from devices you linked to Google Home to
check and let you know.