Introduction
Firefox Suggest is a feature that displays direct links to content on the web based on what users type into the Firefox address bar. Some of the content that appears in these suggestions is provided by partners, and some of the content is sponsored. It may also include locally-stored items from the user’s history or bookmarks.
In building Firefox Suggest, we have followed our long-standing Lean Data Practices and Data Privacy Principles. Practically, this means that we take care to limit what we collect, and to limit what we pass on to our partners. The behavior of the feature is straightforward–suggestions are shown as you type, and are directly relevant to what you type.
We take the security of the datasets needed to provide this feature very seriously. We pursue multi-layered security controls and practices, and strive to make as much of our work as possible publicly verifiable.
In this post, we wanted to give more detail about what data is needed to provide this feature, and about how we handle it.
What is Firefox Suggest?
The address bar experience in Firefox has long been a blend of results provided by partners (such as the user’s default search provider) and information local to the client (such as recently visited pages). Firefox Suggest augments these data sources with search completions from Mozilla, which it displays alongside the local and default search engine suggestions.
Suggest is currently available by default to users in the following countries:
- The United States
- The United Kingdom
- France
- Germany
- Poland
- Italy
Data Collected by Mozilla for an improved experience
Users with access to Suggest can choose to enable an expanded version of the feature. This feature requires access to additional data and is only available to users who have chosen to opt-in (via an opt-in prompt or their Settings menu). When users have opted in to the improved experience, Mozilla collects the following information to power Firefox Suggest.
- Clicks and impressions: Mozilla receives information about the fact that a suggestion was shared. When a user clicks on a suggestion, Mozilla receives notice that a suggested link was clicked.
- Location: Mozilla collects city-level location data along with searches, in order to properly serve location-sensitive queries.
- Search keywords: Firefox Suggest sends Mozilla information about certain search keywords, which may be shared with partners (after being stripped of any personally identifiable information) to fetch the suggested content and improve the Suggest feature.
How Data is Handled and Shared
Mozilla handles this data conservatively. When passing data on to our partners, we are careful to only provide the partner with the minimum information required to serve the feature.
For example, we only do not share user’s specific search queries (except where the user has signed up for the enhanced experience), and we do not identify which specific user sent the request, or use cookies to track users’ online activity after their search is performed.
Similarly, while a Firefox client’s location can typically be determined from their IP address, we convert a user’s IP address to a more general location immediately after we receive it, and we remove it from all datasets and reports downstream. Access to machines and (temporary, short-lived) datasets that might include the IP address is highly restricted, and limited only to a small number of administrators. We don’t enable or allow analysis on data that includes IP addresses.
We’re excited to be bringing Firefox Suggest to you. See the product announcement to learn more!
EDIT: May 7, 2025: Updated to clarify product details and reflect changes.