this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2025
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Choices have slowly been running out when it comes to effective search engines. It seems inevitable an open source search engine project independent from big tech will be needed.

Some of my own tricks are:

  • Use the blacklist plugin to block sites from search.
  • Search for forum sites and communities instead of specific queries. (Wikipedia has a list of forums that might be useful)
  • For technical questions favor Q&A websites like stack exchange.
  • YouTube videos often offer better information than results from search engines. (Use search engines instead of YT search)
  • Look for blogs and journals that specialize in the topic you're searching for.
  • Use boolean search when possible.
  • Self-host and customize your own metadata search engine. Create a graph network linking websites based on subject/topic. You may not be able to query specific questions but you can discover sites that you otherwise can't in traditonal search. This is a great way to discover hidden gems! (Example: https://internet-map.net/)
  • (Difficult) Self-host and scrape sites across the web in order to create your own query-able database. This would be the most effective way to search the internet and would be completely independent from potential enshittification and censorship. The cost however is quite high both in term of hardware and time. Kiwix offers a way to download websites for offline use. (Ex: Wikipedia, Stack exchange). This is a good starting point to build your own custom search engine.

I would love to hear the tips and tricks you use! I hope this post helps others in more efficiently finding information on the internet!

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[–] WhatsHerBucket@lemmy.world 5 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

There are some paid options that are pretty good (I’m thinking Kagi).

Easy, but one obvious downside.

[–] porcoesphino@mander.xyz 1 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (3 children)

Does Kagi let you add a domain to a denylist (like a new well SEOed site thats genAI with inaccuracies you've noticed), or positively bias search results (like saying you know you want Wikipedia entries high in the list)?

[–] Tywele@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

It does. You can outright block domains, rank them higher or lower and I think even pin them to the top.

[–] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 3 points 15 hours ago

It’s one of their best features. No ads being the best, since that also means you get real results and no “sponsored” bullshit. They also have ai slop filters.

[–] evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago

For whatever reason, wikipedia seems to have been really pushed down the page on search engines specifically for medical information. It's a shame because I can acquire the surface level of information (which is all i really ever need) way faster from wikipedia than the other sites that come to the top of the list (mayo clinic, John's Hopkins, Cleveland clinic, govt sites).

I really shouldn't complain about it too much, cause they could be pushing pseudoscience blogs.