About searchmysite.net

What is the search engine and why should I use it?

The searchmysite.net search engine is a niche search, focussing on the "indieweb" or "small web" or "digital gardens", i.e. non-commercial content, primarily personal and independent websites.

If you want to research people's personal experiences of or deep-dives into certain topics, hobbies or interests, then you may find the searchmysite.net public search useful to avoid having to wade through all the marketing websites and blog spam that fill the big search engines. It differs from the commercial search engines because it:

  • Indexes only user-submitted and moderated sites, rather than indexing the entire internet with all of its spam, "search engine optimisation" and "click-bait" content.
  • Does not show adverts and promotes advert-free results pages, to remove the incentives for spam and surveillance capitalism.
  • Aims to have a sustainable and user-aligned operating model, planning to pay running costs via the "search as a service" features, rather than relying on advertising which could put it in conflict with user needs.
  • Offers an unusually high level of privacy for a search engine, thanks to the operating model which is not based on advertising or collecting personal information for sale to advertisers (see the Privacy Policy for full details).
  • Is fully open source, for even greater transparency of the searching, ranking and indexing processes, and for greater community involvement in improving the service.

What is the search as a service and why should I use it?

The searchmysite.net search as a service is a way to provide a site-specific search without having to install and run your own search engine.

If you have a small to medium sized web site and you would like to add search functionality, searchmysite.net can help you do so relatively easily, quickly and cost effectively. Features include on-demand reindexing, a simple API, and the ability to customise what is indexed. It is tried and tested, powering the searchmysite.net search engine since July 2020, and differs from other commercial search as a service providers because it is:

  • Easy to setup - just click Add Site and follow one of the Verified Add options.
  • Low cost, currently just £12.00 a year for up to 500 pages fully indexed twice a week.
  • Open source and self-hostable, so you can inspect the code, improve upon it, and even manage your own instance.

Note that your site does not have to be included in the public search in order to use the search as a service, so it does not have to be a personal or independent website.

Who has developed this site?

This site has been developed by Michael I Lewis as an evenings and weekends side-project.

Where can I find out more?

Check out the Blog for posts on various aspects of its development, see the Documentation for frequently asked questions, information on the query syntax, indexed fields, indexing process and API, and search for searchmysite.net to see what others are saying about it.