About Search.gov

Search.gov is a search engine built by the government, for the government. We support over 300 million searches a year across one-third of federal domains.

It is a product of the Technology Transformation Services, and there is no cost to federal agencies.

We provide a high-quality, self-service search engine that allows you to customize search experiences for the public.

Our History

Search.gov got its start when internet entrepreneur Eric Brewer, whose early research was funded by the Department of Defense, offered to donate a powerful search engine to the government. That gift helped accelerate the government’s earlier work to create a governmentwide portal.

In June 2000, President Clinton announced the gift from the Federal Search Foundation, a nonprofit organization established by Brewer, and instructed that an official U.S. web portal be launched within 90 days. USA.gov went online on September 22, 2000 under the name FirstGov.gov with a prominent search box to allow the public to search across government websites. Visit USA.gov to learn more about USAGov’s mission and history.

In 2010, Search.gov moved to open-source software and expanded its use to agencies across government in the United States.