As of 2023, Google is taking a significant step in the United Kingdom and Europe by adopting Presearch, a private and decentralized search engine, as the default choice for all newly acquired and factory-reset Android devices.
With approximately 70% of smartphone users in Europe relying on the Android operating system, this move provides ample opportunities for the emerging Presearch search engine to expand its user community.
Presearch has a user base of 2.2 million individuals, conducting an average of 1.3 million searches daily.
While Presearch is distinct from Google in various aspects, it draws comparisons to DuckDuckGo—a search engine renowned for its privacy-oriented features.
Impressively, Presearch’s search volume, after three years of operation, is approaching the levels recorded by DuckDuckGo back in 2012. This progress underscores the promising trajectory of Presearch as a player in the evolving search engine landscape.

What is Presearch?

As of 2023, Presearch is a decentralized search engine that operates on an open framework, rewarding active community participants with Presearch Tokens for their usage, contributions, and platform promotion.
In a digital realm where a solitary entity commands 77% of all searches, influencing vast trillions in expenditures, molding perceptions, and serving as the primary Internet gateway, the emergence of a fresh, communal, and transparent search engine becomes a compelling necessity.
Presearch has ingeniously devised a go-to-market strategy that targets frequent searches, particularly web workers, to secure early adoption. This strategic approach is aligned with their trajectory toward future iterations of the platform, which are set to incorporate a blockchain-based index collaboratively managed by the community.
Considering its launch in 2017, Presearch’s search volume remains respectable, given its niche orientation. Its search volume has witnessed a substantial 300% rise since January 2021.
DuckDuckGo currently records an average of 94 million daily queries, reflecting the substantial demand for privacy-focused search engines within the market.
The increasing demand is evident year after year; DuckDuckGo, for instance, saw an average of 65 million searches per day just last year.
While Presearch may not attain the same pinnacle as Google, its evolution positions it as a search engine worth monitoring in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

Why is Google emphasising on adding more default options?

In 2023, as part of its efforts to align with the European Commission’s requirements, Google announced its intention to expand the range of default search alternatives available on Android devices earlier this year.
Europe and the United Kingdom subject Google to a higher degree of scrutiny compared to North America. A significant penalty of over 4 billion euros was imposed on Google by the European Commission in 2018 following the revelation of Google’s exploitation of Android to gain an unfair advantage in the search sector.
In the past, Google mandated that search engines pay to secure a place as a default option, but this stipulation has since been removed.
As a result of these changes, the Android choice screen will now feature the five most popular eligible search engines in each European Union country, presented in a randomized order at the top. Below these top five, an additional seven search engines will be available for selection. The appearance of Presearch on an Android device’s choice page may vary based on the user’s geographical location.

After celebrating this big launch presearch sent a thankyou message across the community.

Presearch said :

“The past 48 hours have been some of the most fun within the community in recent memory and it wouldn’t have been possible without you, the community. Thank you for sticking with us through the ups and downs of the project’s journey. Thank you for continuing to buy PRE tokens even when times were dark.

 Thank you for telling your friends and family about us. Thank you for being friendly in the community to people who need help. Thank you for running nodes and helping to create one of the largest decentralized networks in the blockchain space today. Thank you!”