Search for Good: GoodTree and GoodSearch
by Celine Ruben-Salama, New York, NY on 10.25.06
James Currier had a vision to create an online service that would harness the Internet to benefit charity. GoodTree, which originally launched summer of 2005, went offline in November 2005, and re-launched in July 2006 was the result. The search engine which combines results from Google, Yahoo, MSN, and AskJeeves is free, has no banners or pop-ups, will never ask you for money, and will never send you spam yet raises “a lot of money for charity.”
Too good to be true? Not at all. All the leading search engines contribute to the results so you will find what you’re looking for using it. Clicking around the Internet you generate money for brand-named vendors who pay to have potential customers visit their websites. These pennies add up to total of billions of dollars in aggregate for whole search sector. By using the GoodTree search engine, 50% of their gross revenues go directly to the many charities individual users select.
Top-rated and among the most proven and effective in their categories the charites listed are impressive. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, you can suggest a category. The environmental category contains Earth Island Institute, Earth Justice, Conservation Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club Foundation. Users can select as many charities in as many categories as they want.
Start using GoodTree and keep an eye on your “charity tree” on the top right hand side of the homepage to track of the amount you have money you have generated. The service is only marketed by word-of-mouth, so be sure to tell your friends. It is a great example of a small, individual contribution that you can make, without making major changes to your day-to-day life.
GoodSearch, powered by Yahoo!, works similarly to GoodTree. Happy searching!
::GoodTree
I tried to post this the other day, but it looks like it never got through...
I believe that this search site only shows sites with paid ads as a result. They earn money every time you click on a link because advertisers pay to have their sites featured in Google, Yahoo, etc. driven searches.
I'm not sure if Goodtree's site violates the ad hosting policies of Google, et al. They are a little misleading, and that's not usually allowed in the Google ad hosting contract, at least. But maybe they have some kind of deal with the search engines.
I agree with Turil - I seem to remember another thing that got shut down by Google because of their policy, and I don't see how this is any different. GoodSearch is more reliable.
I agree with Turil - I seem to remember another thing that got shut down by Google because of their policy, and I don't see how this is any different. GoodSearch is more reliable.
I believe that this search site only shows sites with paid ads as a result. They earn money every time you click on a link because advertisers pay to have their sites featured in Google, Yahoo, etc. driven searches.