The Problem:
Many users, and especially educators and parents, prefer not to have adult sites included in search results. However, a student using a standard web search engine, such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc., can easily come across harmful adult material, even if they were not looking for it. Many legitimate academic search terms can match the content found on adult sites and appear in the search results.

Fortunately, Google provides a way to filter the results. In fact, Google has spent many years perfecting their filtering technology to be the best in the industry. They use a combination of artificial intelligence, advanced image recognition, and a powerful community of billions of daily users that report offensive content to them. However, because of their need to appeal to a very wide audience, the default Google search settings are "moderate" instead of the "strict" setting which is needed for students. One can set Google results to be strict, but if a different browser or computer is used (student uses a computer at home), or cookies are cleared (they usually get cleared automatically over time, or you may have them turned off for privacy reasons), the results will go back to being just moderate and potentially unsafe. Further, it is difficult to even monitor if the results are in strict mode, since the main body of the search results look the same as regular Google search results.

Other search engines designed for students are available, but they don't come close to the quality of results that only Google can deliver. Further, training students how to use Google is an important skill these days. Just using a site with handpicked children sites is very limiting and misses out on new quality sites that come out on a daily basis. The relevancy matching of the results when compared to Google often pales in comparison, hampering the student's learning experience.

In our opinion and based on a lot of feedback from teachers and school administrators, there are many cases when even Google's safe filtered results are still not good enough. This can happen if a student is intentionally using an adult term in the search request. While not returning pure "adult" results when strict filters are set, the listed sites from these types of searches can still be offensive. For example, there are a lot of gray area art sites that we block. We describe our optimal free solution below that takes care of ensuring that Google SafeSearch filtering is always set at school or home, with multiple additional filtering layers we provide to make sure all results are truly student friendly.

The KidzSearch Solution:



KidzSearch offers a unique solution to this important problem. When a search is done on KidzSearch.com, it can only return Google "strict" search results and is not dependent on any computer, cookie or browser settings. The same trusted high-quality search results as Google are returned, but without adult content mixed in them.  In fact, the results are actually from Google via our direct partnership with them. We just enforce that they are fully filtered for students. Further, KidzSearch maintains a constantly updated list of banned keywords and adult site names that go beyond what Google SafeSearch filters for added protection (see diagram above). We don't allow a search to continue if a banned search keyword is detected. We also have proprietary AI filtering algorithms that detect multiple word forms, spelling variations, tenses, and more. Other checks remove duplicate letters and code characters called "leet," which is the use of numbers to try and get by filtering (for example: 1=i, 3=e), or other secret code cloaking methods. We truly feel KidzSearch is the best search tool for kids with the most advanced keyword filtering system around. We have spent over 10 years developing this technology.

We encourage you to try and get any offensive results in our search engine. If you do, please let us know so we can address the problem. All our search results have links after the results to report a problem listing. With 1000's of schools using us each day, it provides us with an army of monitors helping us make the product safer. When required, entire websites that Google SafeSearch has chosen to still allow are removed from the results based on KidzSearch community feedback.

The results returned are the same ones you get using Google, but without all the harmful content. In addition, we have special proprietary settings that skew the result ordering so it shows sites that are likely to be more relevant to students at the top. For example, there is an emphasis on learning versus commercial sites.

Another useful feature relates to our unique autocomplete keywords that appear when you type in a search. Students often find it challenging to correctly identify and properly spell what they need to type when starting an online search. While other search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing provide predictive closest matching autocomplete terms, the results are geared for a general commercial audience and may even contain adult terms. KidzSearch is able to use millions of anonymously collected student searches to provide the most relevant matches specifically for student needs with a scholastic bias in what is returned. We also spell-check and correct them when needed. This helps teach proper spelling habits for terms most likely to be seen by students.

The KidzSearch homepage is your signal that safe internet results will be returned. Further, all our search result pages have a unique branded look which is your cue that the results are being filtered. This allows parents and educators to more easily monitor things from a distance.

KidzSearch provides an easy free solution for safe internet usage when kids access their computer or mobile device from any location. Parents can be given instructions to always have their children use KidzSearch at home. This will ensure that they have a safe internet experience when they do their homework. Further, you may have internet filtering software on your home and school computer, but what happens when access is needed on an unknown computer? We provide a simple free solution that can be used from any computer in the world without requiring software to be installed.

KidzSearch is compatible with all filtering software solutions, such as Open DNS. If possible, we suggest using a service such as Open DNS to improve the safety of your network. Sites like Open DNS contain a list of websites that may contain harmful content. The list is updated often, but you really need to use another layer of protection over it, like KidzSearch to dynamically filter new sites that may not be detected yet by their system. In addition, even if sites are prevented from showing after clicking on them, it is best to just not show them in the first place by using KidzSearch. Further, students at home are not likely to have any DNS filtering software in place, so KidzSearch provides a reasonable alternative that is much safer than using a standard search engine.


Mobile / Tablet Solutions

The KidzSearch App is a free download that works on all mobile devices and is supported on Apple iOS, Google Android, as well as on Amazon for Kindle fire devices. The app is free to download. It provides the same filtering technology as the desktop version. In addition, most of the features kids enjoy, such as KidzTube, KidzTalk, etc., are supported.

When the KidzSearch Free App is installed, kids can safely browse the internet. We strongly suggest removing all other browsers on a device, which usually can be accomplished using parental controls. Once this is done, a child cannot directly enter any websites that are not "KidzSearch approved" via our Safe Search application.

Our App is one of the most popular ways parents and schools are able to make a tablet safe to use both at home as well as on any wireless connection.

Who is using us?
1000's of public and private schools trust and use us each day. We are also used by many homeschools. Below are just some of our customers:






U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity dodea Americas
Los Angeles Unified School District, CA
Hanford School District, Hanford, CA
New York City School District, NY
Fort Bend National School District, TX
Douglas County School District, Castle Rock, CO
Greece Central School District, NY
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Charlotte, NC
Owasso Public Schools, Oklahoma
Round Rock ISD Schools, Round Rock, TX
Long Beach Unified School District, Long Beach, CA
Northern York County School District, PA
St. Johns School, Quebec, Canada
Perth School District, Perth, Australia
Roomberg Institute, Cherry Hill, NJ
West Springfield High School, Springfield, VA
Princess Anne Psychological Associates, Virginia Beach, VA
Davis School District, UT
Berea City Schools, OH
Mesa Public Schools, AZ
Belgrades Schools, MT
Iron Country Schools, UT
Teacherweb
Symbaloo
Educator's Technology

Please contact us for a more complete list. We would also love to hear from you if you are a current customer and want your school added to this list.

We provide a special search environment made just for kids that includes:

Results that are always safe, even if cookies are cleared, or children use the site on a different computer that has new browser settings. It may be confusing to a student to use Google.com at school in safe mode, but when they are on another computer at home with default settings, that same site can return potentially harmful adult content. We also provide additional keyword screening for extra safety based on feedback from our large community of schools.

Quality results. KidzSearch filters out and removes adult images, pictures and text. It does this without lowering academic standards and provides the student with all necessary and proper current educational material, unlike systems that only use limiting made-for-children websites.

Safe image results. We allow students to safely browse images using proprietary screening algorithms.

Free learning games. Students have access to thousands of the best online learning games to help teach subjects in a fun and highly entertaining manner on just about any topic.

Personalization Features.

Students can select their own background colors and themed wallpaper designs, which encourage use. They can also include their own personal messages. This type of customization can often help encourage students to use it more, which improves their online research skills. It is one of our most popular features.

Cost effective. Our system is free with nothing to install. In addition, we are very responsive to customer requests, such as filtering additional terms or blocking entire sites. We usually respond to requests within a few hours.

Search results that are geared more for kids are pushed higher to the top. Visual thumbnails and larger fonts are also used. When available, large image thumbnails are added to most results to help younger students select the most relevant match. We also use a larger font to make things more readable and fun. A traditional text-dense set of results can often be overwhelming to children when they are learning to use a search engine.

Specialized autocomplete that provides the most likely search terms as students begin typing in the search box based on millions of analyzed terms done by schools who use us on on a daily basis. This proprietary feature helps students find the best search terms for school homework and projects.

KidzSearch has many other special sections that kids enjoy, like Homework Help where students can ask and answer school questions in a safe monitored environment, KidzSearch News with interesting thought provoking daily stories and videos designed to get kids thinking, KidzTube hand-selected educational videos, Safe Streaming Music, Boolify graphical search teaching tool, and our popular Top Sites guide that has all the best free educational learning sites presented in a fun and interactive format.

KidzSearch Voice Search is a unique cutting-edge ability that allows students to conduct voice searches, which includes web, video, and image results. This feature is currently only available to desktop chrome browser users, but we working to expand it to other browsers, as well as mobile. It is especially helpful for younger children that may not be able to use a keyboard and disabled users.

Proud member and accepted by the American Library Association.  We have been providing students with a safe searching environment for over 10 years and are used by many schools around the world.


Rated as a Top 25 Learning Website
for Educational Quality by Common Sense Media.

 

Read What Others Are Saying About Us!


"KidzSearch has got to be my number one search engine for middle schools..."
Jennifer Wagner, Family Technology Expert, About.com





 "Practical Tips for Parents:
 Encourage your children to use child-friendly
 search engines such as KidzSearch," Zoe Brennan,  The Telegraph



"After exploring many different kid-friendly search engines, we found KidzSearch to be the best overall in terms of providing safety while also giving access to the widest amount of content." (5-star user review)






  KidzSearch as Featured on ABC4 News - Tech Time Tuesday

"I am a school librarian/technology coordinator and LOVE your search engine" 

"I am absolutely in love with this website," Krystal Taylor,  School Teacher

"I'm going to get super smart!" KidzSearch User