How SafeSearch Filtering Works

Given all of the complex algorithms and technologies Google applies to its standard searching, the SafeSearch content filter is surprisingly simple. SafeSearch is nothing more than a filter that looks for the appearance of certain "naughty" words, such as "sex," "porn," and "girls." (The exact list is a Google secret, of course, but you can bet it includes all those words the publisher won't let me list here.) When a web page contains one or more of these objectionable words (in either the page text or the URL), the page is omitted from Google's search results.

Caution

SafeSearch settings are stored in a cookie on your hard disk. If you have cookies disabled in your browser, you can't use the SafeSearch filter across multiple search sessions.

Like I said, surprisingly simple.

There are two levels of SafeSearch filtering:

• Moderate. Blocks objectionable images from Google Image Search results only; it doesn't block any pages based on objectionable text. This is the default configuration.

• Strict. Blocks both objectionable words and imagesand also includes a stricter image filter than the moderate filtering option.

It's important to note that the SafeSearch filter only applies to those results returned from a Google search. Google doesn't block access to any specific web page, it just omits objectionable pages from its search results. You can still enter the URL for an objectionable page into your web browser; Google won't keep you from going directly to that page.

It's also important to note that while SafeSearch does a good job of filtering out objectionable pages, it isn't perfectand won't catch all obscene material. So it's possible (if not likely) that some objectionable links might creep into your search results, even with SafeSearch activated. To that end, SafeSearch is not a substitute for adult supervision when your kids are searching the Web.