Features to Enhance Your Search Experience

Ecosia’s search engine is designed to feel familiar and powerful while helping you make greener choices online. Beyond classic web results, Ecosia offers shortcuts, advanced search tools, filters, and green features that highlight more sustainable options as you browse.

Generative AI features on Ecosia Search

Ecosia AI features support you by giving you a quick overview of a topic or answering questions in a chat‑like interface. 

• Overviews: An AI-generated summary box at the top of the results. It combines information from multiple top sources into a short, easily readable answer.
• AI Chat: A chat‑style experience where you can ask Ecosia’s AI follow‑up questions, just like messaging a friend.

For more information on how to use AI-features have a read at the respective FAQ: Generative AI on Ecosia 

Adjust market and search provider in Ecosia Search settings

Your individual Ecosia search settings influence the kind of results and rich content you see.

Ecosia automatically chooses a default market based on your location and settings. We currently offer a specific range of countries and languages that are covered by our search partners’ availability.

The underlying search provider (Bing, Google, EUSP) is chosen by Ecosia per market, device and availability. If available you can select a preferred search provider in your Ecosia Search Settings.

For more information on Ecosia Search Settings have read of the article Customize your Ecosia Search Settings

Search Shortcuts (Search Tags)

Search shortcuts (also called search tags) are short codes you can add to your query to jump directly to other sites or Ecosia verticals, without leaving the search bar.

How to use search shortcuts

• Click the search bar and type what you’re looking for.
• Add a space, then type a shortcut (for example #w or !w for Wikipedia).
• Press Enter.

Ecosia will send your query directly to that service, or open the matching Ecosia vertical.

Popular shortcuts

• Ecosia verticals:
  • #i, #images → Ecosia Images
  • #n, #news → Ecosia News
  • #s, #shopping → Ecosia Shopping
  • #v, #videos → Ecosia Videos
• Popular sites

  • #a, #amazon → Amazon

    #apv, #primevideo → Amazon Prime Video

    #b, #bing → Bing

    #e, #ebay → eBay

    #ek, #ebayklein → eBay Kleinanzeigen

    #fb, #facebook → Facebook

    #gm, #gmail → Gmail

    #g, #google → Google

    #gd, #gdocs, #docs → Google Drive

    #gi, #gimages → Google Images

    #maps, #gmaps → Google Maps

    #gn, #gnews → Google News

    #gs, #gscholar → Google Scholar

    #gt, #gtranslate → Google Translate

    #ig, #instagram → Instagram

    #ia, #iarchive → Internet Archive

    #work, #files → Microsoft work files

    #nf, #netflix → Netflix

    #p, #pinterest → Pinterest

    #reddit → Reddit

    #spotify → Spotify

    #twitter → Twitter

    #whatsapp → WhatsApp

    #w, #wikipedia → Wikipedia

    #wa, #wolfram → Wolfram Alpha

    #yt, #youtube → YouTube

Advanced search operators help you refine your search when you need more precise results.

They’re especially useful for research or complex topics. Because Ecosia uses multiple different search providers, some operators may work differently depending on which provider is powering your results.

Combine or exclude words (Boolean operators)

You can use words and symbols to control which results you get:

• AND – show results that include both words.
• OR – show results that include either word.
• - (minus) – exclude a word.
• " " (quotes) – search for an exact phrase.

Examples

• solar panels AND subsidy
  • Shows pages that mention both “solar panels” and “subsidy”.
• solar panels OR heat pumps
  • Shows pages that mention either “solar panels” or “heat pumps” (or both).
• solar panels -China
  • Shows pages about solar panels, excluding those that mention “China”.
• "renewable energy statistics 2023"
  • Shows pages that contain exactly that phrase.

Search only on one website (site:)

• Use site: to focus on a specific domain.
• In the search bar, type your topic.
• Add a space.
• Add site: followed by the website.

Examples

• deforestation report site:un.org
• climate adaptation site:who.int

Search for a specific file type (filetype:)

Some underlying providers support restricting results to certain file types.

• Type your topic.
• Add a space.
• Add filetype: plus the extension.

Examples

• energy transition filetype:pdf → PDFs.
• climate adaptation filetype:ppt → PowerPoint decks (when available).

These tools work best in markets where Ecosia is powered by Google or Bing with full operator support. Results can vary slightly by country. You can explore the full list of supported operators by our search result providers here:

• Google search operators
• Microsoft Bing advanced search keywords

Filtering your search results

Filters are clickable options on the results page that help you narrow down what you see, without typing any operators.

You’ll usually find filters in a bar near the top of the results, just under the search box. 

Filter web results

On the main Web results tab, you may see filters such as:

Time – like “Any time”, “Past 24 hours”, “Past week”, depending on your search result provider.

Search region – to get results tailored to a specific country.

Filtering image results

On the Images tab, you can filter by:

• Size (small, medium, large)
• Colour (colour, black & white, transparent)
• Type
• Time
• Layouts
• License or Usage rights (depending on your region)

Filter news and video results

On the News and Videos tabs, you may see similar filters, for example:

• Time (e.g. latest news first)
• Other options provided by the underlying news or video provider

To filter news or videos:

1. Search for your topic.
2. Click either the News or Videos tab.
3. Use the filters bar to choose the options you want (for example, a time range).
4. The results will refresh automatically.

Rich Content on the Results Page

Ecosia doesn’t just show a list of links. Depending on your query and location, you might see extra content directly on the results page:

• Quick Answers and snippets: For example, direct answers, definitions, and highlighted content at the top of the results.
  • Calculator — 2+2, 128*24, 15/3
  • Currency Conversion — 100 eur to usd, 20 pound to canadian dollars
  • Word Definitions — define ambiguity, define environmentalist
  • Translation — trees in spanish, kartoffel in english
  • Timezone — time in tokyo, utc+1, usa time
  • My IP — my IP address
  • Measurements — 1 inch to cm, 2 cups to grams
• Location‑related queries: These features may use your location settings and cookie preferences (for example, how you prefer temperature or wind units to be displayed).
  • Weather — berlin weather, amsterdam weather
  • Maps — 5 avenue anatole france
  • Hotels  —  hotel in Berlin
  • Points of Interests — restaurants in Berlin, things to do in new york
  • Flights — flights from london to vancouver
• Shortcuts to verticals and services: Clicking these options switches you to a more focused vertical (for example, only images, or only news).

Sustainability indicators on search results 

Normally, search results don't tell you whether a company has been recognized for environmental or social practices, or whether it has ties to fossil fuel expansion. These icons help fill that gap, so you have a bit more context when making your own choices.

• Leaf icon — This company has been independently assessed or recognized by an external organization, assessing company practices. 
• Fossil fuel icon — This company has documented involvement in coal, oil, or gas.

How the green leaf icon works

The leaf appears next to domains recognised by one of these organisations: 

• Economy for the Common Good (GWÖ) - assessed through an audited or peer-reviewed Common Good Balance Sheet, covering ecological, social and governance criteria  
• B Corp - certified through B Lab's assessment across governance, workers, community, environment and customers  
• Bundesverband Nachhaltige Wirtschaft (BNW) - verified membership in this German sustainable business association 

All three look at different things, using different processes. GWÖ and B Corp each evaluate a company's environmental and social practices in their own way; BNW confirms membership in an association built around similar principles. The leaf tells you that at least one of them recognises this company by its own standards. 

How the coal icon works

This icon flags companies involved in coal, oil or gas. It draws on four sources, each covering a different part of the fossil fuel value chain: 

• The Global Coal Exit List by Urgewald tracks over 700 companies that mine coal, transport it, supply mining equipment, develop new mines or generate coal-fired power. 
• The Global Oil & Gas Exit List, also by Urgewald, applies the same approach to oil and gas. It covers companies behind more than 95% of global production and tracks who's still developing new reserves, pipelines or LNG terminals.  
• The Climate Accountability Institute contributes data identifying the small number of companies responsible for a disproportionate share of historical global emissions.  
• Banking on Climate Chaos extends the icon to banks financing fossil fuel expansion.

All four sources track documented activity, what a company mines, drills, builds or funds, rather than an assessment or a score. 

How we are keeping the icons up to date 

GWÖ certification is valid for two years, B Corp recertification for around three and BNW membership can lapse. We review  and update both datasets on an annual cycle, removing or refreshing entries as certifications, memberships, and source data change.