Help kids search Google with these online safety tips.
What kid isn’t curious about the world? With the internet at their little fingertips, the unknown can quickly be discovered. Keeping your kids protected from unsafe content while searching for those answers is vital in allowing kids to explore online.
Help Kids Search Google
While this internet safety tip won’t keep your kids from learning something you aren’t ready for them to know, what this will do is help keep pornography and other unsightly information away from curious little eyes.
Google has a feature for logged in users called SafeSearch. By default, Google’s Safe Search is set to moderate.
Using the default moderate Safe Search setting will help keep explicit images out of your search results.
Change your kids Google SafeSearch setting to strict to enable searching of explicit text and images, follow the directions below.
Setting Up Google SafeSearch
Let’s setup a Google safe search account for your kids. This will help kids search Google safely by setting up boundaries and limits on search results. Here are the steps to setting up Google SafeSearch.
Login to your Google account
In the upper right-hand corner, click on Settings > Search settings
Scroll halfway down the screen and select Use strict filtering (Filter both explicit text and explicit images) AND select Lock SafeSearch
Select Save Preferences – at the bottom right-hand corner of the page
To confirm that SafeSearch strict is locked, go to Google and search. You should see an image featuring a set of large yellow, green, red and blue balls on the right side of the search screen. This verifies that your strict SafeSearch is on.
Internet Safety is the Job of Parents
While this handy tool, assists in aiding against kids viewing inappropriate content, internet safety is the job of parents.
Keep a frequent eye on your internet history, and temporary internet files to ensure that only what you want to be seen is viewed on your home computer.
Help Your Kids Search Google Safely is part of the Digital Mom Blog Internet Safety series
1300 Numbers
Wednesday 1st of February 2012
Amazing, such a detailed read I appreciate all your effort and for publishing this on this site for the general public to read.
Francine Boyce
Monday 23rd of May 2011
I was so glad when Google introduced the whole 'Safe Search' feature. Sadly my kids are growing up fast and have worked out how to log me out of Google which easily allows them to turn safe searching off. The clever little blighter's are much more tech savvy than me! I have however recently been told about a little application called "SafeSearchLock" which locks it on - and keeps it on. Google was my main concern but it also does it for YouTube, Bing, Yahoo and others. It works with other browsers too (which was another way my kids used to bypass the filter). I still keep an eye on what they are doing online - as I think all parents should, but at least this gives them a little bit of freedom and gives me a little bit more peace of mind. Me and my friends have found it really simple to use and free to try out.
Andrea
Tuesday 8th of February 2011
Thanks for putting this together. Very useful and very important. I'm sure you know about KidRex (the kid safe search engine) which is also a great way to help protect your little ones. It's good to be informed! Thanks!