Sometimes we want to keep the little ones away from certain portals, or we need Google to show cleaner search results. A combination of parental controls and custom filters can help with both, but the uBlacklist extension available in Chrome and Firefox offers an alternative. Its function is to block specific sites in Google results, using patterns, wildcards, and general expressions.
Google can return hundreds of millions of results for each search, but we all know only a handful are relevant. The rest? Digital junk, SEO spam, broken links, and so on. Google's advanced commands are our main allies, as is the search by date function (usually hidden under the "Tools" menu). However, there is another path, accessible through an open-source extension called uBlacklist
Learn to filter Google results with uBlacklist
As its name suggests, uBlacklist lets us create a "blacklist", a series of filters designed to block specific results in Google searches. Its developer also mentions that the filters work on Bing, Brave, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Qwant, Searx, Startpage.com, Yahoo! Japan, and Yandex. The "Block this Site" option lets us hide sites more directly, but the optimal strategy is to go into the extension's settings and use expressions to block entire domains.
uBlacklist enables syncing filter lists using Google Drive or Dropbox, and subscribing to public filters. However, the key is learning to use the rules and advanced patterns. The official uBlacklist page is full of examples that expand or limit the scope of the filters, and also includes incorrect strings to avoid those errors.
uBlacklist is compatible with Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
Official site and downloads: Click here
