Kiddle (search engine)


Kiddle.co is a web search engine and online encyclopedia emphasizing safety for young children. Kiddle is powered by Google Programmable Search Engine and employs SafeSearch, with additional filters. The user enters topics in the search toolbar, and Kiddle returns and ranks its findings, and pushes child-safe content higher in its search results.

History

Kiddle's domain was registered in 2014. The designers chose the.co domain name to emphasize that Kiddle is a quality "child-safe" search engine. Kiddle became very popular in social media in 2016, and even became a meme due to blocking of certain words for a short period of time.

Format

Kiddle uses an outer space stylized theme for their pages. It appears like a Google Programmable Search Engine window. After the user enters the subject, Kiddle presents search results, with the first three results being deemed safe and written specifically for kids and "checked by Kiddle editors", the next four being safe sites not written specially for kids, but presented in kid friendly language. The eighth result and anything else beyond are safe sites written for adults but harder to understand for kids. Results presented are filtered through Google SafeSearch.
If the user enters what are considered "bad words" a picture of a robot is displayed, telling the user to try again.

Kpedia

Kiddle Encyclopedia is an online encyclopedia, available from their search engine, powered by MediaWiki. It lists over 700,000 articles, and is "based on selected content and facts from Wikipedia, rewritten for children." Kiddle positions its Kpedia as an educational resource to be used for "school homework help and general education," and includes their articles in search results.

Criticism

In 2016, Kiddle was criticized for blocking the keywords "gay," "lesbian," and the phrase "sex education," claiming that the keywords were not suitable for small children. They had also banned the words "transgender", and "bisexual". Due to public outcry, Kiddle announced they would unblock these words.
Kiddle is powered by Google Custom Search but is not affiliated with Google LLC. However, it has been mistaken for a Google product in several news articles and blogs due to its name.