Parents' Guide to Evaluating Search Engines for Kids

One way for parents, teachers and librarians to help keep kids stay safe online is to introduce them to search engines which index sites just for them. The engines avoid listing sites which may contain inappropriate material including, but not limited to drug use, gambling, hate speech, explicit sexual matters, porn sites and violence. The benefit of these "search engines" is that they contain sites selected by human beings. This means that sites with information about bullying, for example, will not just be ignored because it is about a form of violence. Filtering software, on the other hand, may eliminate it.

The other good news is that there are plenty of quality search engines and directories for kids which are free. It's not necessary to purchase a subscription to these services. The best way to test a search engine for kids is to visit the site and perform a couple of searches both on subjects they need and on material you do not want them to find, or if sites covering certain material exists it is covered in educational and informative manner.

There are a number of factors to consider when evaluating a search engine or directory.

Appropriate Content What type of content does the site exclude? Does it fit in with your moral, ethical, religious or educational beliefs? How often are the links checked? Unfortunately, it is difficult to pin down how often these sites check the content of their links.

Usefulness While weeding out the bad, are there too few sites? Will your child become bored searching and searching and finding nothing? Also consider if there are reference materials available? Are there easily browsable subjects?

Usability Is the site appealing to kids with a snappy lay out and bright colors? Online, kids like a healthy dose of visuals with their information. Is it easy to navigate? Is a search feature available on the opening page? Do the search results come up quickly?