Marginalia Search: weird website review & sites like it

Marginalia Search is a small, open-source, do-it-yourself search engine that surfaces blogs, personal sites and odd corners of the web rather than commercial results. Searching it feels like exploring the web before SEO took over, and the results tend to be the sort of pages that a large search engine buries.

Try it with something specific, a hobby or an obscure topic, and see what turns up. The results are less polished than a mainstream search, and that is the point. You will find independent writing and long-forgotten projects that no one optimized for ranking.

It was built by Viktor Lofgren, and the site itself is the best source for details. It works on phones. Treat it as a rabbit hole. It is a fine antidote to boring search results and a good companion to Wiby, which does something similar with a different flavor.

Tips for getting the most out of it

Search a niche hobby or topic.
Expect smaller sites rather than big brands.
Try it alongside Wiby.

Questions about Marginalia Search

What is Marginalia Search?

It is a small, open-source search engine that favors blogs, personal sites and non-commercial pages over the usual commercial results. You can find it at marginalia-search.com, and odd-sites.com lists it as a long rabbit-hole visit. It works on phones as well as computers.

How is Marginalia different from Google?

It is a much smaller, independent engine designed to surface personal and non-commercial websites. Its results are different and less polished than a mainstream search engine's, by design. We check the link daily, so you can see whether it is still alive. It is free to open in a browser, with nothing to install.