Google SafeSearch Deep Dive: What Is It and How Does It Work?

As the internet becomes polluted with inappropriate and harmful content, tech giants like Google are taking steps to ensure a safer online experience. And this effort has led to the creation of Google SafeSearch. In this section, I'll let you know what Google SafeSearch is, how it works, and evaluate its effectiveness. Let's dive in!

Introduction to Google SafeSearch

Google SafeSearch is a tool designed to blur or filter out inappropriate content like porn, nudity, photorealistic sex toys, escort services, and gory and violent content from the search result page. Most amazingly, pages with links, pop-ups, or ads that display or point to explicit content can also be affected if Google SafeSearch is on.

So, you can think of it as a watchman working assiduously to ensure your search experience remains free from adult and offensive content.

Basically, Google SafeSearch has three settings, which are "Filter," "Blur," and "Off." As their names imply: 

• If you select "Off," you'll have access to all your searches, including the explicit and violent ones.
• The "Blur" option, which is the default SafeSearch settings worldwide, will blur only inappropriate images and still leave the unfit text and web pages on your search result page. That is, the search results are still the same as the ones you set SafeSearch as "Off."
• The "Filter" setting, if enabled, will completely remove explicit text, web pages and images from your search results. 

Though Google allows users to customize the SafeSearch settings, certain groups of users are exempted. For instance, if you're under 18, Google will automatically set the SafeSearch to "Filter," and it can't be turned off. Plus, if the Google account is managed by parents, school administrators or other institutions, the account owner may not be able to change the SafeSearch options.

In addition to being integrated into search engines, SafeSearch Filter can also be built into networks by local governments or network administrators, which can override users' individual SafeSearch settings, making it difficult to change it.

For example, in 2022, the Iranian government forced Google SafeSearch and did not allow Iranian citizens to change this setting. So if Iran users search for porn or violent content on Google, they will only face filtered and limited results.

A Brief History of Google SafeSearch

According to Wikipedia, Google SafeSearch was first introduced in 1999, coming with the Off, Moderate, or Strict mode. Over time, Google has made significant changes to its settings and algorithms to improve its functionality.

In 2009, Google introduced the ability for parents or school administrators to lock on the SafeSearch filter level.

By 2012, Google removed the "Moderate" filtering level at the same time, blurred explicit image searches.

And 2018 witnessed that Google SafeSearch was integrated into Google Family Link, and it was automatically enabled for the child's accounts under 13.

In 2021, Google set SafeSearch as the default setting for accounts owned by minors. By 2023, it went a step further by automatically marking and blurring explicit content for all users by default.

Today, Google SafeSearch is widely used not only by schools and businesses but also by parents and guardians. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, approximately 50% of parents use parental control tools, including Google SafeSearch, to protect their children from accessing inappropriate content.

How Does Google Safe Search Filter out Inappropriate Content?

Matt Cutts, who worked on the initial version of SafeSearch explained in 2011 that SafeSearch was mostly text-based, to figure out what should be filtered. Undoubtedly, with the development of techniques, SafeSearch now relies on automated systems that use machine learning and a variety of signals to detect explicit content, such as words on the hosting web page and in links.

Here's how it generally works:

Machine Learning:

These machine learning techniques are trained using supervised learning models, which are trained on large, labeled datasets where images and text are tagged with categories like "explicit" or "non-explicit." Through this model, Google SafeSearch can effectively analyze patterns in these labeled images and identify visual and textual features associated with explicit content.

Here, you may not know that Google Vision API SafeSearch employs the same machine learning techniques of Google SafeSearch to filter out explicit images. Both they will detect images by analyzing and extracting a set of visual features from those images. The visual features are then fed into the trianed classifier to determine if they are explicit or not. Once it is explicit, SafeSearch will include the image in the category of inappropriate content and will be filtered out.

Aside from images and videos, Google also analyzes metadata, such as titles, descriptions, keywords and tags, within web pages. Whenever a search query matches these keywords, SafeSearch will automatically filter out the results that might include such keywords. Surely, it is super intelligent. For instance, SafeSearch won't filter out all pages that contain flagged words. Instead, it identifies and then displays non-explicit content related to those words by understanding the whole context. This reduces the chances of inappropriate filtering of benign content.

Feedback Mechanism:

SafeSearch also employs user feedback to filter out content. If inappropriate content is reported by users, Google will review it. Once it is confirmed as inappropriate, Google will add it to the safe search filter list. This helps fill in the gaps that the above automated systems have missed.

*Here is the Google SafeSearch workflow that the editor speculates because Google's official documentation does not clearly define its workflow in detail.

Hands-on: Is Google SafeSearch Effective?

To be frank, no safe search is 100% foolproof. So, if I had to rate the effectiveness of Google SafeSearch, I'd give it a 7 out of 10. Then, how exactly about its efficacy? I compared the search results of different words under SafeSearch settings. Now, let me give you several examples to feel that.

Filtering Explicit and Violent Content

During my test, I used different explicit search terms while the "Filter" setting was active, and the effectiveness varied.

For instance, when I searched "Hard fuck," it functioned well to filter out explicit pages, images and videos. However, when I opened the Spotify playlist containing "Hard fuck" in the filtered search result page, I found songs labeled "Explicit."

Additionally, there are still webpages letting me have adult dating and they even advocate for sex first when I searched for "sex dating." And you guess what? This runs counter to Google SafeSearch's document, which plainly specifies it can filter results related to "sex-oriented dating."

Besides, it didn't filter photorealistic sex toys perfectly as it claimed. When I searched terms like "Dildo," some sex toys and purchasing links still found their way into the search results.

Blurring Explicit and Violent Content

Google SafeSearch is also effective when it comes to blurring the unfit images and videos. Though you'll have access to inappropriate web pages and text, Google SafeSearch will perfectly blur explicit or violent images and videos. For example, I tested it again using the term "Hard fuck" and "A man hacked to death," and it blur both the explicit and violent images perfectly.

Pros and Cons of Google SafeSearch

From the test results I provided above, Google SafeSearch is not completely effective for filtering or blurring some types of content. However, it also boasts its positive sides. They are:

Pros

• Automatic Settings for Minors: Google automatically enables SafeSearch for accounts owned by users under 18 years old, providing an additional layer of protection for minors.
• Easy to Customize: Google SafeSearch provides options for different levels of filtering. General users can easily enable or disable SafeSearch based on their preferences.
• Syncronization across Devices: The changes users set for SafeSearch on one device, those settings will carry over to other devices or browsers that used into the same Google account.

Cons

• Filter Inappropriate Content Instead of Blocking: This tool is only used to filter inappropriate material. For instance, when I input pornhub.com in the address bar, I was taken directly to the site without any hitch, even though the SafeSearch setting was active.
  💡So, if you're looking for something to block inappropriate content on your kid's device, definitely opt for parental control apps like AirDroid rather than SafeSearch.
• Filter Legitimate Content: Although Google SafeSearch is highly effective for filtering inappropriate content, it can sometimes be overly restrictive. In certain cases, it struggles to distinguish between legitimate and explicit material. For instance, if a search term resembles something erotic, it may block the results, even if the content is educational.

Is Google SafeSearch Same as Google Safe Browsing?

When talking about security-related features offered by Google, you may also find an option saying "Safe Browsing." But is it the same as SafeSearch? No, they are different, serving different purposes.

So, what is Safe Browsing?

Google Safe Browsing was launched in 2005 to protect users against potentially harmful websites. It works by scanning the web continuously for suspicious behavior on websites. So, whenever you try to access a dangerous website, Google Safe Browsing cross-references the site URL with Google's database and issues a warning to users if necessary.

On Chrome, Google Safe Browsing has three main settings, which are Enhanced protection, Standard protection and No protection. The enhanced level protects against known and new sources of attack, while the standard level only protects against known sources of attack. The off-level doesn't offer any protection. Meanwhile, some of the main features of Safe Browsing are:

✔️Social Engineering Attack Protection: When Google Safe Browser was launched, its main feature was social engineering attack detection. Through this feature, you can easily identify websites or links designed to deceive you into revealing your personal information or downloading software.

✔️Unwanted Software Protection: As time went by, Google began to add some interesting features to its Safe Browsing, and this included unwanted software detection. This feature was specifically designed to warn users about downloading software that can make unwanted changes to their devices.

✔️Malware Detection: Google Safe Browsing also features malware detection technology. This technology actively warns users before accessing a website that contains malware that can harm their devices and leave their data exposed to malicious actors.

✔️Real-time Warning: Whenever you're about to access a harmful site, Google Safe Browsing will warn and alert you if the website contains a phishing link, malware or deceptive prompts.

From its features, it's clear that Google Safe Browsing is distinct from Google SafeSearch. The former is designed to enhance users' online safety, while the latter is used to improve users' online experience. Additionally, unlike SafeSearch, Safe Browsing is not limited to search results but extends across the entire internet.