Staying Safe in Google Search

Typed a search term in Google and had explicit or inappropriate content displayed in your results? How do you stop it happening?

We've probably all typed an innocent search term and come up with not so innocent results.

Most of us are savvy enough to ignore the links and continue looking for what we really want.  But, sometimes even the links appear innocent, until you click them...  Not a good look if you are at work.  Also, not something you would want your children to accidentally click on.

Luckily Google has the functionality to block these unsavoury search results, although a lot of people (at least 18%) don't know how. 

How to Stay Safe in Google

Google has a feature called SafeSearch which will block inappropriate or explicit images from your search results.  Although it's not 100% accurate, it will help you avoid most adult content.

The way you turn SafeSearch on is different depending on whether you are using a computer, tablet, or phone.  You can also lock SafeSearch to prevent others from turning it off again, such as children or employees.

To turn on safe search on your computer:

• First search for any term e.g. cats
• In your search results click the Gear icon (far right of the Google Search results screen)
• Click 'Turn on SafeSearch'

Google will now exclude content that it deems to be explicit.

Note: there are different ways to turn on SafeSearch depending on whether you are using a tablet, mobile phone, computer, TV. For more info on SafeSearch click here. The top menu lets you select, Computer, Android , iPhone & iPad - so that you can get the instructions specific to your device.

Google has lots of other functionality that you might find useful.  Check out our article on Using Google Search - Be a Web Wizard to learn more.