How to enforce safe search at a company, school or university

If you’re making Ecosia the default search engine at a company, school or university, you can force Ecosia’s strict safe search setting by updating your network’s Domain Name System (DNS) configuration.

Option 1 - Create a CNAME record (recommended)

To force the safe search setting, update your DNS network configuration so that www.ecosia.org is a CNAME to strict-safe-search.ecosia.org . The hostname strict-safe-search.ecosia.org is only used within a DNS override as described below. If you attempt to open it directly in a browser, you'll be redirected to this page.

1. Access the DNS Server - Log in to the server where your internal DNS is hosted or access the DNS management interface
2. Locate DNS Management - Find the section where you can manage DNS records
3. Add or Edit DNS Record - If there's already an existing record for www.ecosia.org edit it to a CNAME to strict-safe-search.ecosia.org
4. Creating the CNAME Record (Canonical Name Record) - If there's no existing record, look for an option to add a new record. Choose CNAME as the record type. Enter www.ecosia.org in the domain or host field then enter strict-safe-search.ecosia.org as its value
5. Propagation Time - Keep in mind that DNS changes might take some time to propagate throughout the network, and during this period, users might still be directed to the old IP address. Flushing the DNS Cache of endpoints will mean they get directed to the updated IP address.

This will automatically enforce Safe Search for all Ecosia searches made on your network.

Option 2 - Create an A record (alternative solution, not recommended)

To force the safe search setting, update your DNS network configuration and create an A record for www.ecosia.org so that it points to 140.99.233.1

1. Access the DNS Server - Log in to the server where your internal DNS is hosted or access the DNS management interface.
2. Locate DNS Management - Find the section where you can manage DNS records.
3. Add or Edit A Record - If there's already an existing record for www.ecosia.org edit it to an A Record to 140.99.233.1
4. Creating the A Record, If there's no existing record - Look for an option to add a new record. Choose A as the record type. Enter www.ecosia.org in the domain or host field then enter 140.99.233.1 as its value.
5. Propagation Time - Keep in mind that DNS changes might take some time to propagate throughout the network, and during this period, users might still be directed to the old IP address. Flushing the DNS Cache of endpoints will mean they get directed to the updated IP address.