Tor Search Engine Link: What Tor Browser Searches by Default, and What It Does Not
What the tor search engine link in the address bar actually searches
Tor Browser ships with a default search engine, and typing a query into the address bar sends it there through the Tor network. The Tor Project's documentation describes the default as a privacy-respecting clearnet engine. What matters here is what that engine indexes: the ordinary web. Its results are clearnet pages, reached through a Tor exit relay so the sites do not learn your location. This default does not index onion services. Clearnet search engines do not crawl the Tor network, and their results will not contain 56-character addresses except where a clearnet page happens to quote one. A user who installs Tor Browser, types the name of an onion service into the address bar and gets clearnet results about it has not found a broken tor search engine link. They have found the default behaving exactly as designed. A scenario: a newcomer wants an onion search engine, types its name into Tor Browser, and gets a page of clearnet blog posts, directories and forum threads all offering addresses. They pick the top one. The default search did its job, which was to search the clearnet, and the newcomer has just walked into the clone problem that this whole site is about. Knowing that the address bar searches the clearnet is the first step to avoiding that path.
How a clearnet engine offers a tor search engine onion link of its own
Some clearnet services, including some search engines, also run an onion version of themselves. The reason is not to index onion sites; it is to let Tor users reach the service without leaving the Tor network, which removes the exit relay from the path and with it the possibility that an exit operator observes or tampers with traffic. A tor search engine onion link of this kind is simply the same clearnet engine, reached as an onion service, returning the same clearnet results. Tor Browser supports a mechanism for advertising these. When a clearnet site includes a specific header in its response, called Onion-Location, Tor Browser shows an indicator offering to switch to the onion version, and can be set to do so automatically. The Tor Project documents this feature, and it is the cleanest way to obtain an onion address for a clearnet service: the site you are already on, verified by its ordinary certificate, tells your browser where its onion version lives. The practical value is that you never need a directory or a forum to find the onion address of a clearnet search engine or any other clearnet service that supports the feature. Visit the clearnet site, accept the prompt, and bookmark the result. Certificate-backed provenance, no third party involved.
Why you need a separate tor website search engine for onion content
Searching onion services requires a crawler that actually visits them, and that is a different tool from anything in Tor Browser's defaults. A tor website search engine of this kind runs as an onion service, builds its index by following links between onion pages, and returns results that are themselves onion addresses. Several exist, with varying coverage, policies and accountability, and other articles on this site compare them and explain how to evaluate one. The key difference from the default search is who is behind the address. Tor Browser's default engine is chosen by the Tor Project and reached at a well-known clearnet domain. An onion crawler is run by whoever runs it, at an address that cannot be verified by inspection. The path by which you obtain that address is therefore the most important security decision in this topic. The path should go through the crawler's operators. Some maintain clearnet sites that publish the onion address, which you can verify through ordinary domain trust. Some publish a PGP signing key and sign announcements, which you can check following the walkthrough on our Useful Resources page. Some do neither, in which case every address you will ever see for them is a rumour. What the path should never include is a directory, a wiki, a forum comment or a clearnet search result, because those are exactly where clones are planted.
Keeping tor browser search engine links separate in your head and your bookmarks
Because the two kinds of search look alike, a search box and a list of results, it helps to keep them physically separate. The tor browser search engine links you rely on should live in two clearly labelled bookmark folders, and the habits for each should differ. - Clearnet search, default or onion version of a clearnet engine. Use for ordinary questions and for finding operators' clearnet sites. Results are clearnet pages; treat addresses quoted on them as third-party claims. - Onion crawler, reached through an address verified from its operators. Use for discovering names and reading discussion within the Tor network. Results are onion addresses; treat every one as unverified until the operator confirms it. A scenario: a student wants a privacy email provider's onion address. Using clearnet search, they find the provider's official website. On it, Tor Browser shows the Onion-Location indicator, they accept, and they bookmark the onion address with certificate-backed provenance. They never needed the onion crawler. A second student wants to know what people on Tor forums are saying about a recent phishing wave. That is a question for the onion crawler, reached through its verified bookmark, and the answer is context, not an address to log into. Two questions, two tools, no confusion.
Common mistakes with a tor search onion link
The same misunderstandings recur in forum threads, and each traces back to blurring the two kinds of search. 1. Expecting the address bar to find onion sites. It searches the clearnet by design. Its results about onion services are pages about them, not the services. 2. Taking a tor search onion link from the top clearnet result. That result is whichever page ranked best, and clone operators know how to rank. 3. Changing the default search engine to an onion crawler. Some guides suggest this. It puts an unverifiable service in the position of handling every query you type, including clearnet ones, and it makes the clone problem total if the address was wrong. 4. Trusting the onion icon as verification. The icon means the connection is inside Tor. A clone shows it too. 5. Treating results from an onion crawler like results from the default engine. The default engine's results are clearnet pages with certificates and reputations. The crawler's results are addresses with neither. Each mistake is a case of applying clearnet search habits, formed on engines with enormous trust infrastructure, to a network that deliberately has none. The habits are not wrong on the clearnet. They are wrong here, and the fix is to notice which kind of search you are doing.
A routine for the tor links search question
Here is a routine that resolves the tor links search question whenever it comes up, whether for yourself or for someone asking you. 1. Decide which kind of question you have. Do you want a clearnet answer, an onion address for a clearnet service, or to search content that exists only on Tor? 2. For clearnet answers, use the default search. Nothing else is needed. 3. For a clearnet service's onion address, visit its official clearnet site and look for the Onion-Location prompt in Tor Browser, or for the address published on the site itself. Bookmark it. 4. For onion-only content, use an onion crawler whose address you obtained from its operators and verified. Bookmark it. Read results as names and context, never as verified destinations. 5. When any result leads to a login form, stop and verify the address through the operator before entering anything. 6. Keep the security level at safest throughout. Neither kind of search requires scripts. A scenario: a teacher preparing a lesson wants to show students the difference. They type a query in the address bar and show clearnet results. They visit a clearnet site with an onion version and show the Onion-Location prompt. They open a verified onion crawler and show a results page full of duplicates. Three searches, three different things, and the lesson about which one to trust for what writes itself.
Two searches, one habit
The phrase tor search engine link conceals a distinction that resolves most of the confusion newcomers report. Tor Browser's built-in search reaches the ordinary web privately and does not index onion sites. Some clearnet services offer onion versions of themselves, which Tor Browser can discover through Onion-Location with certificate-backed provenance. Searching content that exists only on Tor requires a separate crawler, whose address must come from its operators and whose results are unverified addresses to be confirmed elsewhere. The single habit that ties this together is asking, before every search, which kind you are doing, and applying the trust level that kind deserves. Clearnet results carry clearnet trust. Onion crawler results carry none until an operator vouches for them. One step to take today: open Tor Browser and visit the clearnet site of a service you know offers an onion version. Watch for the Onion-Location indicator, accept it, and look at the address bar. You have just obtained an onion address with the strongest provenance available to an ordinary user, and without touching a directory, a wiki or a search result. Do it once and the difference between the two kinds of search becomes permanent knowledge.
Frequently asked questions
does tor browser's search engine find onion sites?
No. The default search engine in Tor Browser is a privacy-focused clearnet engine reached through the Tor network. It indexes the ordinary web and returns clearnet pages. Searching onion services requires a separate crawler with its own onion address.
what is onion-location in tor browser?
A header a clearnet site can send to advertise its own onion version. Tor Browser shows an indicator offering to switch, and can do so automatically. It is the safest way to obtain a clearnet service's onion address, because the site you are already on, verified by its certificate, tells you.
should i set an onion search engine as my default in tor browser?
It is not advisable. It routes every query you type, including clearnet ones, through an unverifiable service, and if the address was a clone the attacker sees everything. Keep the default and open onion crawlers through a verified bookmark when needed.
where do i get a tor search engine url for onion sites?
From the crawler's operators: a clearnet site they control or a PGP-signed announcement, verified as described on our Useful Resources page. Never from directories, wikis, forum comments or the top result of a clearnet search.
why do onion search engines show so many results for the same site?
Because they index clones alongside originals and rank mostly on text, which copies match exactly. Treat every result as an unverified candidate and confirm the address through the operator before entering anything.