Helpful Info & FAQ for Brave Users

Is Brave Search Politically Biased?

The answer is no; Brave does not intentionally inject any bias into its search results. Many users have discussed that results seem to lean in one direction or another, especially toward liberal viewpoints. I’d like to address why it might appear this way. Before diving in, here are some official responses from Brave on this topic:

So Why Do Results Sometimes Seem to Be Biased?

  1. Brave Relies on the Web Discovery Project for Indexing

    Brave doesn’t use a traditional web crawler like many other search engines. Instead, it relies exclusively on the Web Discovery Project. This means that users who opt in to the project contribute anonymous data about their searches and the web pages they visit within the Brave Browser. Essentially, participating users serve as the web crawlers themselves. This approach can influence search results based on the content that these users are accessing. If a significant number of users visit certain types of content more frequently, it may affect the diversity of indexed content and lead to a perception of bias.

  2. Website Coding and SEO Practices Influence Indexing

    The way websites are coded significantly affects how they are indexed by search engines. Search engines rely on HTML tags, meta descriptions, and keywords found in website headers. Skilled web developers and SEO experts optimize websites to rank higher in search results by targeting specific keywords. Organizations with more resources can invest in better web development and SEO, making their content more likely to appear prominently in search results. This can impact the perceived balance of search results, as well-resourced sites may overshadow smaller or less optimized ones.

  3. Brave doesn’t rerank results

    Unlike Google, Bing, and other mainstream search engines, Brave does not rerank search results based on your search history or personal data. While Brave does rank results to provide the most relevant information, it doesn’t manipulate these rankings to cater to individual biases or preferences. Many users are accustomed to personalized results, so encountering unpersonalized, neutral results may feel unfamiliar and give the impression of bias. Adjusting to a search engine that doesn’t filter results based on your past behavior can be a surprising experience.

There’s Good News Though

While Brave doesn’t inject bias or rerank results to fit any narrative, they understand that users may want more control over their search experience. To address this, Brave offers a feature called Goggles. Goggles allows you to create custom filters to uprank, downrank, or omit certain types of content from your search results. You can use these Goggles for personal use or share them publicly so others can benefit from your customized search preferences.

This means you’re not limited to the default search experience and can tailor results according to your preferences. Although setting up Goggles requires some effort, it’s a powerful tool for customizing your search experience. If you’re curious and want to learn more, please check out my FAQ article on Goggles

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