Search feeds · also called search default agreement, distribution deal, default placement deal
Default search deal
A default search deal is an agreement in which a search engine pays a browser, phone maker or app to be its pre-set search engine.
Most people never change the search engine their browser or phone came with. Being the default is therefore enormously valuable, and search engines pay for it. The partner receives a share of the ad revenue from searches made through its product. For the engine, those payments are part of its TAC.
The best-known deals are between Google and large distributors such as Apple and browser makers. They were central to the United States government's antitrust case against Google. In August 2024 the court found Google had broken competition law, and its remedies decision in September 2025 prohibited exclusive search distribution agreements while still allowing Google to pay partners for default placement. It also ordered certain search data to be shared with qualified competitors, while leaving Google's ads data outside that sharing.
Smaller versions of the same deal run throughout search arbitrage. A syndication partner may pay a browser, a software maker or an extension developer to set its search site as default, which is the basis of browser extension search monetisation.
The model is legitimate when users are told clearly and can switch easily. When defaults are changed without consent it becomes search hijacking.
Think of it like this
It is like a drinks company paying a restaurant chain to be the cola served unless the customer asks for something else.
Related terms
TAC (traffic acquisition cost)
TAC is the money a company pays to others to obtain traffic, whether a search engine paying its partners or an arbitrageur paying for ads.
Browser extension search monetisation
Browser extension search monetisation is earning search ad revenue from an extension that sets the user's default search, homepage or new tab page to a monetised search engine.
Search syndication
Search syndication is when a search engine lets other websites and apps show its search results and search ads, and shares the ad revenue with them.
Search hijacking (browser hijacker)
Search hijacking is when unwanted software changes a browser's search engine, home page or results so the user's searches are diverted to pages that earn someone ad money.
Revenue share (rev share)
Revenue share is the percentage of advertiser spending that a search engine or feed provider passes on to the publisher whose page produced the click.
Metasearch engine
A metasearch engine is a search site that has no index of its own and instead shows results and ads supplied by one or more larger search engines.
Sources: Hughes Hubbard & Reed: Remedies ruling in United States v. Google (search)