The Safety of Internet Search Engines

The Safety of Internet Search Engines

May 12, 2006
Ben Edelman Advisor to SiteAdvisor	Hannah Rosenbaum Research Analyst, SiteAdvisor
Abstract We compare safety of leading search engines, using SiteAdvisor's automated Web site ratings. We find most leading search engines similar in the safety of the sites they link to, though MSN is the safest and Ask lags noticeably behind. Across search engines, we find sponsored results significantly less safe than search engines' organic results. We find heightened risks for certain keywords, including those frequently searched by kids and novice users. We began this project in January 2006, and our analysis uses search engine results and SiteAdvisor safety data from April 2006.