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I'd like to see an option to exclude specific external indexes from my search.

The benefits I see are these:

Improved Search Quality
I recently had a Kagi search result that included 20 duplicate results, all from different proxy / "unblocking" domains that had scraped the same site. A terrible search experience. I was able to block those domains, but I'm playing whack-a-mole doing so. The same search on Google, Brave, Mojeek or Bing didn't include any of those duplicate proxy results. I think I have identified which external index those proxy results came from, and I would like to exclude that index for all my future results.

Helps De-Googlers & De-Bingers
Some users choose Kagi specifically to escape Google & Microsoft, and are stunned when they learn Kagi uses Google APIs to generate their results. Being able to exclude Google as an external index would help these users.

Helps Users With Ethical Concerns
Some users have previously said they would prefer not to use the Brave index. Some would prefer not to use the Yandex index. And some want access to every index they can. The politics here aren't actually relevant - what is relevant is that users can't configure their own Kagi account to work the way they want it to. Excluding specific indexes / API calls lets users ensure their money goes only to the external sources they want to fund.

Makes Kagi More Transparent
The current Search Sources page on Kagi is vague, and doesn't directly mention that Google, Bing, Brave and Yandex are index sources. Listing all the sources would help users know what is going on. It is unlikely to give any secret recipe information to competitors that they didn't know already.

Incentivizes Building An Independent Index
I actually thought Kagi was an independent index when I signed up (I misunderstood how limited Teclis is). I thought my subscription money was going towards growing a new independent service. Brave has proven it is possible for a newcomer to build a 100% independent index.

I would envision a new "Indexes" page, under Kagi -> Settings -> Search -> Indexes. There it would list all of the external indexes that Kagi uses, with a checkbox next to each. There might also be a sentence under each that briefly explains the index (eg Includes results from Google Search, and also Google Images) and with a link to the index (eg mojeek.com) for users to research that index themselves.

SearX already has something like this, in its Preferences -> Engines page, with switches next to each search engine to enable or disable:

When the index is disabled, ideally Kagi would not issue API requests to that index service on my behalf. The purpose is to ensure I'm not unwittingly funding those companies.

When new indexes are added, I would expect them to be enabled by default. Since some users may object to this, you might also need to add an option to uncheck "Enable New Indexes By Default" on that page as well.

    2 months later

    I love this idea, especially if we could customize this on the level of lenses. User's might find that, for their usage, different indexes are better for shopping, research, etc

    16 days later
    11 days later

    Similacrest

    If I'm reading this correctly, HAVING more options is a deal breaker for you? Or is that a typo?

    I would definitely like to see this implemented. Those who don't want it can completely ignore this particular setting altogether.

    Given the option, I would exclude Yandex for obvious reasons.

    I can see why Kagi wouldn't want to do this - it can complicate possible future user tickets/cases if users start complaining that they're unable to find something. I think a reasonable first step in these possible future trouble tickets would be to ensure that all search indexes are enabled before moving forward to rule it out as the problem before further troubleshooting.

    Kagi could even add a disclaimer to the top of the option page giving their recommendation (which I assume would be to leave all indexes checked) and that if they have issues searching, to try re-enabling all indexes before contacting support.

    Signed,

    A subscriber.

      19 days later

      Not being able to exclude Yandex is the only reason why I’m considering whether or not to continue with my subscription. At least with this option I could make a clear statement. Giving users control over this feature would probably be the best overall solution.

      I suspect this might be important for some organisations considering a team plan to be able to do on an org-wide setting.

      2 months later

      • nat

        • Post #8

        Saw the Kagi x Yandex FUD on Fedi today for the first time and I would really like if there was an option to disable it, even if it was to potentially hurt my search results quality.

        It would be a great feature for Kagi transparency !

          Would love to be able choose search sources to exclude/include. It may not make a difference to whatever Kagi pays Yandex but I'd prefer not using them as a source.

          23 days later

          The world is not black and white.

          There are good and bad people in Russia. There are good and bad people in the US. Etc. etc.

          You can't base your trust in a search engine based on where they're located. In these days I can't be sure if search engines from the US can be trusted more than the ones in Russia. I would (now) say, that I trust Mojeek far more than any of the others.

          If I search "putin is a war criminal" on Yandex I get honest results. If Yandex is really under influence of the Russian government, I would not see many of the results I get to see now.

          I think having such an option is not what I prefer to have. I believe that Kagi's team is monitoring the quality, so I trust them to exclude a search index if they believe it cannot be trusted anymore.

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