Tree planting search engine Ecosia today launched a new cross-platform browser to boost its online presence.
The new browser, available for Mac, Windows, iOS and Android, is built on Chromium. That’s why there aren’t many feature differences from Chrome. The company sees this as a good thing, as people might be tempted to switch without abandoning their web browsing routine. However, you can customize the landing page and remove sections (such as top sites or climate impact) that you don’t like.
Image credits: Ecosia
Michael Metcalf, chief product officer at Ecosia, told TechCrunch during a call that the company created a browser to expand its sustainable presence.
“The main reason we are creating a browser is because we want to go where our users are and start expanding the footprint where they can be sustainable. Right now, our main use case is search, but we want to expand to parts of browsing experiences,” Metcalf said.
Ecosia is also starting an affiliate shopping program with the launch of this new browser. Users will see links to shopping sites like Amazon, eBay, and Decathlon in the sponsored links section.
The company said all money earned through affiliate revenue will go toward planting trees and supporting other green projects. Through this type of investment, Ecosia has committed to generating 25Wh of clean energy per user every day they browse.
Metcalf said that while the company promotes less consumption, it is aware that people buy frequently and, with the affiliate program, have the opportunity to give back.
In the future, the company wants to improve the affiliate purchasing interface, integrate your AI chatbotand add more customization to the browser.
It’s difficult to ask people to change their browser, so the company is initially targeting its current user base of 20 million, along with marketing aimed at casual green users. The company said it was satisfied with the retention rate in its first beta tests. However, it has no data on whether there was any impact on the number of searches on Ecosia when a user switches to the company’s browser.
Ecosia made some structural changes to its search engine last year. After years of using Bing as its sole search provider, the company began experimenting with Google Search in markets such as Canada, New Zealand, Brazil, and the Philippines. The company uses System1, which distributes search results from Microsoft Bing, Startpage and Info.com in other geographies.
Earlier this year, Ecosia also crossed the seeding mark. more than 200 million trees in 95,000 locations worldwide.