# Brave Search redirects to websites via Google

**URL:** https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/brave-search-redirects-to-websites-via-google/38654
**Category:** General
**Created:** 2026-06-21T10:36:59Z
**Posts:** 6

## Post 1 by @eteszi — 2026-06-21T10:36:59Z

Some queries are redirected through Google instead of using direct links.

> **Screenshots**
>
> ![17820360850219](https://forum-uploads.privacyguidesusercontent.com/original/3X/4/5/456396746fccfa0e829cf42c35909d48cc571ead.png)  
> ![17820361021255](https://forum-uploads.privacyguidesusercontent.com/original/3X/d/a/da1b77ee4e3d8d929d0372f045721054dcb4aaf8.png)

> Like other search engines, Brave Search has a [web crawler](https://search.brave.com/help/brave-search-crawler) to discover new webpages and index their content. The index we create is independent of other search engines. Brave Search results are served solely from this index.

So far, it seems to me that they’re just stealing results from other search engines.

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## Post 2 by @Sorge — 2026-06-21T12:57:35Z

stealing? They literally have google search results fallback

 ![image](https://forum-uploads.privacyguidesusercontent.com/original/3X/4/5/45205b7e0e6b914ee7798ce2d4990a457b693347.png)

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## Post 3 by @seize — 2026-06-21T13:49:55Z

While “Google fallback mixing” is interesting in this context I do not see it being the root cause of the issue described by @eteszi .

Importantly, from my limited testing “google fallback mixing” is _not_ a toggle-able setting for brave search outside of brave browser, **and** in a fresh install of brave browser (Android) “google fallback mixing” is disabled by default. Further I was able to reproduce the provided search query/result in both a non Brave browser using Brave search, and a fresh install of Brave browser with “google fallback mixing” disabled.

See also: [https://safe.search.brave.com/help/google-fallback](https://safe.search.brave.com/help/google-fallback)

It is possible that the query provided by @eteszi was just something that Brave’s index had not yet _fully_ covered so some indexed google results are floating to the top to fill that space.

I would also recommend using “Brave Rerank” if you do not want google results to appear _at all_ in your search results.

See:

- [Introducing Rerank: a fast, easy way for users to customize Brave Search rankings | Brave](https://brave.com/blog/search-rerank/)
- [Easily customize your Brave Search results with Rerank | Brave](https://brave.com/whats-new/rerank/)

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## Post 4 by @Sorge — 2026-06-21T16:30:50Z

> [@seize](#):
>
> Importantly, from my limited testing “google fallback mixing” is _not_ a toggle-able setting for brave search outside of brave browser

Right, I think that’s because this is a Brave browser setting. As the linked page states:

> …you can allow the Brave browser to anonymously check Google for the same query

So it’s the browser making the request, not the Brave Search server. The query results are then shared with Brave Search to help improve the index.

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## Post 5 by @any1 — 2026-06-21T16:50:09Z

> **[Brave Search launches independent image/video search | Brave](https://brave.com/blog/image-video-search/)**
>
> Brave Search's new independent image and video search feature protects your privacy and freedom to access information online.

> After several months of development, Brave Search is releasing its own privacy-preserving image and video search that is independent from Big Tech search engines. Users will no longer need to leave Brave Search for image and video search results. **Now any Brave Search query can be served directly from Brave’s own index** , enabling users to benefit from a fully independent search engine that protects their privacy and is censorship-resistant.

I thought Brave removed all fallbacks according to this blog post from **Aug 3, 2023**

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## Post 6 by @Sorge — 2026-06-21T19:52:17Z

It is a different thing: on launch Brave just did not provide index for image/video