Brave Search beta • Hacker News Board

Re: Brave Search beta

#11

Post by open-paren » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 4:19 PM UTC

Apparently, they have their own search index, which they say covers ~95% of queries, and if the results aren't in the index, it will then get it from Google or Bing.

I'd love some more details on how this works. They probably aren't scraping the whole web. Are they just mirroring Bing and Google indexes? They seem to have their own page ranking algorithm that they're hoping to get trained.

Re: Brave Search beta

#12

Post by 55555 » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 4:19 PM UTC

tomcooks wrote: post #3

Very curious on how this is going to work, especially advertisement-wise

They say it's their own index. That's amazing if true (I wouldn't put it past them to lie). It's super fast and the results (formatting, snippets, etc) look a lot like Google.

Re: Brave Search beta

#13

Post by jtdev » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 4:19 PM UTC

I’ve been using it. Seems like a solid search engine. Interestingly, Google appeared to be censoring results yesterday to hide reports about an unfortunate shooting at a Juneteenth event in Oakland and a subsequent situation where a crowd of people were blocking an ambulance from exiting the area of the shooting with wounded victims. Let’s just say the story didn’t play well to Google’s political base… so they hid it. Brave search provided unfiltered/uncensored results.

Re: Brave Search beta

#14

Post by 55555 » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 4:20 PM UTC

mark_mcnally_je wrote: post #9

How have they gotten there search results?

"Even supposedly “neutral” or “private” search engines rely on big tech for results. Brave is different. We deliver results based on our own built-from-scratch index. We’re beholden to no one."

Re: Brave Search beta

#15

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 4:20 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Brave Search beta

#16

Post by open-paren » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 4:20 PM UTC

open-paren wrote: post #11

Apparently, they have their own search index, which they say covers ~95% of queries, and if the results aren't in the index, it will then get it from Google or Bing. I'd love some more details on how this works. They probably aren't scraping the whole web. Are they just mirroring Bing and Google indexes? They seem to have their own page ranking algorithm that they're hoping to get trained.

I found the announcement blog post. Brave Search is a rebranding of Tailcat's product, which Brave acquired in March.

https://brave.com/brave-search-beta/

Re: Brave Search beta

#17

Post by pineconewarrior » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 4:20 PM UTC

tomcooks wrote: post #3

Very curious on how this is going to work, especially advertisement-wise

I imagine they will utilize the Basic Attention Token for search ads, in a similar fashion to the rest of their advertising.

From the page:

---

> Will I see Brave ads in Brave Search beta? What about Brave Rewards?

> We’re currently thinking through different search experiences to offer our users. Some want a premium, ad-free search experience. Others want a free, ad-supported model. We think choice is best. Brave Ads with rewards is definitely possible, once we’re ready to take on the challenge of privacy-protected search ads.

---

Re: Brave Search beta

#18

Post by colesantiago » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 4:20 PM UTC

open-paren wrote: post #11

Apparently, they have their own search index, which they say covers ~95% of queries, and if the results aren't in the index, it will then get it from Google or Bing. I'd love some more details on how this works. They probably aren't scraping the whole web. Are they just mirroring Bing and Google indexes? They seem to have their own page ranking algorithm that they're hoping to get trained.

I still wouldn't use it since it falls back to Bing or Google.

Re: Brave Search beta

#19

Post by ocdtrekkie » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 4:21 PM UTC

open-paren wrote: post #11

Apparently, they have their own search index, which they say covers ~95% of queries, and if the results aren't in the index, it will then get it from Google or Bing. I'd love some more details on how this works. They probably aren't scraping the whole web. Are they just mirroring Bing and Google indexes? They seem to have their own page ranking algorithm that they're hoping to get trained.

So, note that Brave brought in the Cliqz/Tailcat team to build this: While it's a "new search engine", I'm guessing the data and algorithms they were working on previously have all made it into this project at some point. Cliqz launched in 2015, so there's a number of years of work put in.

Re: Brave Search beta

#20

Post by siproprio » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 4:23 PM UTC

Why do they use > instead of /?

It's Horrible.

They also do not indicate when the result is a .pdf or a document.

The best feature that google killed was advanced filtering. If instead of privacy brave gave me that, I'll sell my soul in a heartbeat!