Google unveils search engine for children: Kiddle

Search giant’s new offering includes features like safe search, kid-oriented results, big thumbnails, large fonts, and modified privacy settings

Google has finally launched the much awaited Kiddle, a customised search engine for children. Entering the search site, one finds Kiddle written in the characteristic colourful Google style, this time set not against the plain white of Google, but a colourfu lalien planet surface. There is also a red droid alien waiting to answer all your queries.

While the search interface is largely the same, with different search options including the usual web, images, news and videos, the search results are clearly modified for a younger audience. For example once you type Obama (in big blue fonts), in the search box, you would not have the President’s website, Obama’s twitter handles, the latest news on top or his Wikipedia page at the top, as is the usual case with standard Google. Instead, you would have a list of links to Obama’s pages on biography.com, britannica.com, famousbirthdays.com etc. each of which would be   by a large picture of the American President.

The search results are also not as cluttered, and come well-spaced with a bigger font, easier for kids to read.

On its ‘About’ page, Kiddle also explains the logic behind its search results.

Safe sites and pages written specifically for kids, which will be handpicked and checked by Kiddle editors, would usually be featured in the first three results. The next rung would include safe, trusted sites that are not written specifically for kids, but have content written in a simple way, easy for kids to understand.

Finally, after this would follow safe, famous sites that are written for adults, providing expert content, but are harder for kids to understand.

If the child types something ‘unsuitable‘ for kids, one of Kiddle’s alien droids would come hob-nobbing with the message “Oops, looks like your query contained some bad words. Please try again!”

Lastly, Kiddle has also announced that they “don’t collect any personally identifiable information, and (their) logs are deleted every 24 hours”.