Most promoted and blocked domains on Kagi

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Feedback loop and telemetry concerns

  • Some worry that publishing “most blocked/boosted” domains could create a herd-following feedback loop.
  • Others reply that these stats don’t influence Kagi’s ranking algorithm and only matter if users blindly copy lists, which they dismiss as user behavior, not a systemic issue.
  • There’s debate over analytics consent: one side asks for an explicit opt‑out, another sees nothing wrong with aggregate stats and questions why opt‑in is needed.

Who uses Kagi and is it viable?

  • Daily queries (<1M) and member count (43k) seem small to some, but others argue that with subscriptions and a small team, Kagi can be sustainably profitable and doesn’t need Google‑scale growth.
  • Many infer the user base is heavily skewed toward developers, especially web devs, given that most top‑pinned sites are programming docs (MDN, language references, Arch wiki).
  • Some argue that “average users” rarely switch search engines or pay for them; others counter that non‑technical knowledge workers might pay once they feel Google’s decline.

Pinned and blocked domains

  • Pinned: Wikipedia leads by a large margin; developer docs and the Arch Linux wiki are frequently praised as concise, practical resources even across distros. Serious Eats is highlighted as a standout for recipes.
  • Pinterest dominates the block list. Complaints: login walls, redirect mazes, poor attribution, EXIF/metadata stripping, and its takeover of image search and reverse image search. Others strongly defend it for inspiration and moodboards and note it serves a huge, often female, design‑oriented demographic.
  • TikTok is heavily blocked for SEO spam, forced login/app prompts, and pages that don’t actually contain the searched content.
  • W3Schools draws blocks due to a long history of inaccurate or oversimplified content, though some say it has improved and still helps beginners or as a quick reference.
  • Healthline is divisive: some find it well‑sourced; others dislike listicles, AI‑generated content, VPN/adblock hostility, or prefer Wikipedia/scholarly sources.
  • alternativeto.net and fandom.com are seen as “most divisive”: useful in some niches but also SEO‑driven, cluttered, or misleading, leading to both boosts and bans.

Search, the web, and Kagi’s experience

  • Multiple comments lament “enshittified” search: SEO spam, AI slop, paywalls, login‑gated content, and loss of source attribution.
  • Several people say Kagi’s quality, domain controls, and AI assistant significantly improve their search experience, though some report noticeable latency (e.g., from Australia) and find the UI and onboarding for advanced features lacking.
  • There’s a broader sense that niche, paid tools like Kagi may thrive precisely by serving demanding technical users tired of mainstream search degradation.