The inception of the internet dates a few decades back and ever since the internet has grown tremendously. The internet serves as home to over millions of websites around the world which can be accessed from anywhere in the world from a web browser with internet connectivity.
The internet is used by people for various reasons – sending and receiving messages, business, virtual services, web apps, reading news, sharing files amidst a ton of other uses. The internet is resourceful because there are great learning resources available. However, there are also tons of irrelevant and inappropriate content on the internet. Google is one of the leading search engines used to search for content on the internet. After much outcry of internet users as regards inappropriate content showing up on search results, search engine giants Google came up with a solution which they called Google SafeSearch to filter search results.
What is Google SafeSearch?
Did you know that you can sieve out inappropriate content from your Google searches? With Google SafeSearch, sexually explicit images, violence-related content, videos and results that may link to explicit content get filtered out from your search result. This is a good feature to set up if your kids use the internet through your mobile devices or their personal computer. If you have SafeSearch enabled, you can only search Google with appropriate words and all adult, violence-related, and inappropriate content will not show up in your search results.
However, you must know that Google SafeSearch does not guarantee 100% accuracy in filtering out the inappropriate content from search results. Some content related to violence and hate speeches might still show up sometimes in search results or adverts. This is mostly because the internet is not owned by Google and they can only do their best to keep the bad stuff out of your search results. Google is not the only company involved in filtering inappropriate content from searches. Tech giants, Microsoft, also have a feature called Microsoft Family Safety parental controls which works similarly to Google SafeSearch.
Google SafeSearch works well across several platforms, but you must always check to ensure that it is still working. You can know that Google SafeSearch is active if you see colored balls around the uppermost of the page. However, SafeSearch only works on Google’s search engine – other search engines will return search results with the inappropriate content.
How to Turn on SafeSearch for Secure Googling
You can enable SafeSearch in two different ways: from the search settings page or the search results page.
To enable SafeSearch from search settings:
- Locate and click on settings (located at the bottom right part of the page) from the Google homepage.
- Click on search settings.
- Check the box beside “Turn on SafeSearch”.
- Confirm your settings by clicking on the “Save” button at the bottom of the page.
To enable SafeSearch from the search results page, follow the steps listed below:
- Open the Google homepage and type in what you want to search for.
- Click on settings (a gear-like icon).
- Click “Turn on SafeSearch”. Your results page should reload, showing only the filtered content.
However, if you want to permanently lock your search results to SafeSearch, follow these steps listed below:
- Navigate to the search settings page.
- Check the box beside “Turn on SafeSearch”.
- Click on “Lock SafeSearch”.Complete authentication of your Google account.
- Confirm “Lock SafeSearch”.
- Select “Do not use private results”.
- Verify your settings by clicking the “Save” button and you are done!
Once you lock your search results to Google SafeSearch, it will require the password to your account before this option can be disabled. This is normally recommended to avoid the stress of turning SafeSearch on every time you want to Google search.
Google SafeSearch can also be enabled on mobile devices via the Chrome browser by selecting “Filter explicit results” under “SafeSearch Filters” in the settings tab. You can also turn Google SafeSearch on via the Google app on your phone. SafeSearch can be found under general settings in the settings tab on the app.
Finally, you can customize your ad settings to filter out ads containing inappropriate content. You can set your ads preference from Google Ads homepage. Setting Ad preference will take effect on ads displayed across all devices your account is logged in.
Does Google Protect Your Privacy?
Google has taken giant strides in the internet world by spreading its technology over every aspect of the internet. Google bots crawl website pages and content to deliver search results in the fastest time, but the big question is – does google protect your privacy?
Anytime you google search, your IP address is visible. Hackers can easily gain access to your information by tracking your IP address. Your information in the wrong hands can be detrimental as your identity could be stolen. This is why RitaVPN is highly recommended for additional protection and privacy when googling.
Introducing RitaVPN
RitaVPN is the best Virtual Private Network (VPN) that keeps you completely anonymous and secure on the internet. When you access Google with RitaVPN, it conceals your real IP address and spoofs your location which sends the hackers and data thieves looking in the wrong place. RitaVPN has a myriad of features like military-grade data encryption, unlimited bandwidth, and others, just to keep you safe and secure when searching on Google.
Besides, RitaVPN offers three pricing packages – a monthly plan for $10.99, a 6-months plan for $49.99 (25% discount) and a yearly plan for $64.99 (50% discount) annually. RitaVPN also offers a free trial and 7-days money-back guarantee.
Conclusion
The best way to stay secure while googling is to use a combination of RitaVPN and Google SafeSearch. While Google SafeSearch filters out inappropriate content from your search results, RitaVPN keeps you anonymous and safe from hackers while surfing the internet.
