(BRUSSELS) - Google will halve the time it keeps users' Internet search data after pressure from regulators concerned about privacy, it said on its official blog.

The California-based company said it was reducing the amount of time it keeps the search data associated with a user's unique Internet address to nine months from 18 months currently.

"We're significantly shortening our previous 18-month retention policy to address regulatory concerns and to take another step to improve privacy for our users," the company said.

It said it was making the move over persisting privacy concerns from data protection regulators, especially in the European Union, which remained "skeptical" about storing data.

Google warned that keeping the data on record for a shorter amount of time would reduce its utility and hurt innovation.

"While we're glad that this will bring some additional improvement in privacy, we're also concerned about the potential loss of security, quality, and innovation that may result from having less data," it said.

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