Web Search

Search the entire internet privately through Zero. No tracking, no ads, no filter bubbles. Just clean, relevant search results without compromising your privacy.

Private by Design

Traditional search engines track every query you make, build behavioral profiles, and sell your data to advertisers. Zero's web search is fundamentally different:

No Query Logging: Your searches aren't stored on servers
IP Protection: Your IP address isn't linked to search queries
No Tracking Cookies: Zero doesn't plant cookies or fingerprint your browser
No Personalization Bubble: Results aren't filtered based on your history or profile
No Ads: Pure search results without sponsored links or promoted content

Zero-Knowledge Architecture: Zero acts as a privacy proxy. Your search queries never directly reach search providers from your IP, preventing correlation between your identity and search activity.

How to Search

Just type your query into Zero's search bar. The Intents Classifier automatically detects web search queries and routes them appropriately.

Example Web Searches

text

Mexican food Philadelphia
Kurt Cobain
Concerts in NYC

Zero understands when you're asking for general internet information versus blockchain-specific data that should be fetched directly from the NEAR network.

Search Results

Web search results include:

Title: Page title as it appears on the website
URL: Direct link to the source
Snippet: Relevant excerpt from the page content
Ranking: Most relevant results appear first

Results are clean and focused—no ads, sponsored content, or algorithmic manipulation.

Click Through Safely: When you click a search result, you're visiting that site directly. Zero protects your search privacy but can't control the destination site's tracking.

Advanced Search Techniques

Use Quotation Marks for Exact Phrases

text

"NEAR Protocol sharding" - exact phrase
NEAR Protocol sharding - individual words

Exclude Terms with Minus

text

blockchain -Bitcoin
crypto news -price

Web Search vs Blockchain Search

Zero intelligently routes queries to the appropriate data source:

Query Type	Data Source	Example
Wallet lookup	NEAR blockchain	"alice.near"
Token price	Price feeds	"price of NEAR"
NEAR knowledge	AI Expert mode	"what is sharding"
Current events	Web search	"Top world news today"
NEAR docs	AI Expert mode	"NEAR SDK docs"

You don't need to manually choose—the Intents Classifier handles routing automatically.

Credit Usage

Web searches are completely free. You can search the internet through Zero without consuming any credits.

What's Free: Web searches, token price lookups, NEAR blockchain lookups (wallets, transactions, Explorer features) are all free. Only AI chat and Aura Mode consume credits.

Combining Search with AI

You can ask Zero's AI to analyze or summarize web search results:

text

Search for NEAR Protocol upgrades and summarize the latest changes

This combines web search (to fetch current information) with AI analysis (to synthesize and explain findings).

Search Privacy Architecture

Here's how Zero protects your search privacy:

Your Browser: You type a query into Zero
Zero's Proxy: Query is sent to Zero's servers (without identifying information)
Search Provider: Zero fetches results on your behalf
Your Browser: Results are returned and displayed in Zero

At no point does the search provider see your IP address or any identifying information. They only see requests coming from Zero's servers, shared among all Zero users.

Destination Site Privacy: When you click a search result and visit the destination website, you're subject to that site's privacy policy. Zero can't control tracking on external sites.

No Filter Bubbles

Traditional search engines personalize results based on your history, location, and profile. This creates "filter bubbles" where you only see information that aligns with your existing views.

Zero doesn't personalize search results. Everyone searching for the same query sees the same results, ranked by relevance—not by what an algorithm thinks you want to see.

Comparison to Other Private Search Engines

Feature	Zero	DuckDuckGo	Brave Search
No query logging	✓	✓	✓
No ads	✓	✗	Optional
Blockchain integration	✓	✗	✗
AI-powered analysis	✓	✗	✗
Privacy proxy	✓	✓	✓

Search Quality

Zero's web search aggregates results from multiple sources to provide comprehensive coverage. Result quality is comparable to major search engines for most queries.

When to Use Zero's Search

Privacy-sensitive research
Blockchain and crypto topics (combines web + blockchain data)
Technical documentation without ad clutter
Current events and news without personalization bias
Any search where you don't want it logged or tracked

Limitations

No local business listings or location-based results
No shopping or product search features
May have fewer results for very niche or localized queries

Focused Scope: Zero prioritizes privacy and crypto/tech content over trying to be a general-purpose search engine for every use case.

Search History and Session Data

Your search queries are stored only in your browser's memory during your active session. They're used to:

Maintain conversation context for follow-up questions
Display your recent searches in the current session
Allow the AI to reference previous queries

This data never leaves your device and is permanently deleted when you:

Click the "Destroy" button
Close the Zero browser tab
Clear your browser's local storage

Best Practices for Private Searching

Use Incognito Mode: For maximum privacy, use Zero in a private browsing window
Destroy After Sensitive Searches: Click "Destroy" after researching sensitive topics
Don't Log Into Destination Sites: Logging into websites can compromise your search privacy
Use a VPN: Combine Zero with a VPN for additional IP protection
Clear Browser Data Regularly: Prevent any local search history accumulation

Troubleshooting

No Results Found

Try rephrasing your query with different keywords
Check for typos
Be more specific or more general depending on the query
Try removing special characters or operators

Irrelevant Results

Use quotation marks for exact phrase matching
Add more specific keywords
Exclude unwanted terms with the minus operator

Search Taking Too Long

Check your internet connection
Simplify complex queries
Try again if the initial request timed out