It’s been over a year since we heard about Brave Search, the browser’s own search service, developed from Tailcat technology and of special interest for two reasons: it is a truly independent search engine, not based on the results of Google, Bing, Yahoo! or others, and is respectful of user privacy.
Brave Search began its journey in June 2021, opening its beta phase to everyone and, more importantly, to all users beyond Brave, the browser in which it is the default search engine. By the middle of 2022, Brave Search was already serving more than 4.5 billion searches a year and counting.
The most interesting thing about Brave Search, however, is that for how recent it is, it has great quality, both for the results and for the options, as well as being in continuous development and improvement. And although its integration with Brave is undoubtedly a point in favor of the combination, this is not a requirement and anyone can add it to their browser and use it as they would with DuckDuckGo or another.
Now Brave Search evolves in its commercial facet and will start showing adsprominent text ads, but well differentiated from the organic results, as well as respectful of the user’s privacy: the ads that appear will be based solely on the search terms, the national location of the user and the type of device with which you are browsing, without creating advertising profiles.
This is what Brave Search ads will look like
Those who do not want to see advertising on Brave Search can access a premium plan that costs 3 dollars a month that and that in addition to removing ads from search results, it will serve to support the development of the service. In fact, it seems more like an excuse for the latter than removing a few sponsored results.
The only thing that isn’t ready yet is the integration between search engine advertising and Brave Rewards, but that’s a feature that’s planned for later. Apart from this, Brave Search thus lays the foundations for its future, one that involves Brave users, but which will equally enrich the search engine market, one that is not as abundant in quality alternatives as it might seem.
