How Marisei Search works
Marisei Search is a normal web search with one difference: a trust check sits between the results and your screen. Everything on this page describes what happens in the fraction of a second between you pressing search and the results appearing.
1. We search the web
Your words are sent to our search provider to find relevant pages across the open web. Nothing is filtered at this stage — this is the same broad pool of pages an ordinary search engine would draw on. Your search is never linked to your identity, and we do not build a profile of you or sell your searches.
2. Every destination is assessed
Before anything is displayed, each website behind a result is checked against the Sapher trust assessment. The check looks at the live site, not at its reputation or popularity, so a well-known name gets the same scrutiny as one you have never heard of. Results are only released to the page once every one of them has an answer.
3. Only trusted sites are shown
Sites that pass are listed in their original order. Sites that fail, or that cannot be assessed at all, are removed entirely — you never see them, a preview of them, or a link to them. There is no warning label to click past, because a link you cannot click is safer than one you can.
What the assessment looks at
A score is built from signals that can be observed on the live site at the moment you search. Positive signals add points and warning signs subtract them; further Sapher analysis is then applied to reach a final score. The most important signals are:
- Secure, valid connection
- The site must answer over HTTPS with a certificate that matches the address you are actually visiting.
- It stays where it says
- A site that quietly redirects somewhere else is treated as a different site, and that destination is judged on its own merits.
- Real business details
- Contact information, a privacy policy and identifiable ownership are all positive signals that a real organisation stands behind the page.
- Warning signs in the address
- Look-alike spellings of well-known brands, throwaway domain suffixes and phishing keywords all subtract from the score.
The full formula and the pass mark are part of the Sapher assessment. The frequently asked questions go into more detail on scoring, pass marks and how long a score is kept.
Fail closed, every time
Most safety tools fail open: when a check breaks, the content is shown anyway. Marisei does the opposite. If a site is unreachable, answers too slowly, or the assessment cannot be completed for any other reason, the site is dropped from your results. We would rather show you five results we can stand behind than fifty we cannot.
The one exception is a site assessed recently and successfully: its last known score can stand in briefly if a fresh check does not come back in time. Nothing that has never passed is ever shown.
The same rule applies to everything on the page
Filtering the list of links is not enough, so every other part of a results page goes through the same gate:
- Images and videos — thumbnails and players load only from sites that passed, so a blocked site cannot reach you through a picture either.
- Map and local results — nearby businesses appear only once their website has been assessed, sorted by distance from you.
- Shop prices — when your search looks like shopping, prices and availability are read from the shop's own product page, and only from shops that passed.
- AI answers — the model is shown only the pages that passed, so it cannot summarise, quote or cite a site you are not allowed to visit.
What we do with your search
Searches are used to fetch results and nothing else. There are no advertising trackers, no cross-site profiles and no sale of search data. Anonymous usage measurement only runs after you agree to it, and you can decline without losing any part of the search. Full detail is in the privacy notice.
Why you may see fewer results
When a trust assessment cannot be completed, we leave the site out rather than guess. That means result counts are lower than an unfiltered search engine — by design. If a site you trust is missing, you can tell us about it from the FAQ page, and it will be reviewed.
Go deeper
- How trust-filtering prevents phishing — why search is a phishing channel, and the signals that expose an impersonation.
- Fail-closed vs fail-open security — what happens when a safety check cannot finish, and why we hide rather than guess.
- About Marisei — our mission and how the trust score is built.
Important caveat
The destination website has been checked and is considered trusted. However, any links or redirects you click after visiting that website have not been checked. A trusted site can still link onwards to somewhere we have never seen, and a site can change after it was assessed — keep your usual judgement once you leave Marisei.