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Comment by RenRav | Hacker News Reader

7 million active users, 70 million trees... only 10 trees have been planted per user?

I like the idea but I wonder on average just how many searches it takes for one tree to be planted.

That might be a good deal or not. Search doesn't generate much profit per user (don't forget overhead). From that profit you need to buy trees - somewhere between $.10 to $50 each. Then you need land to plant them on, which can be expensive. Then you need to plant them and water them to ensure they grow - there is a lot of labor in this last one that needs to be paid somehow.

Of course you can cheat. Plant a tree that is dead, dig it up and replant it again and again. I doubt they are doing this, but it is something to watch for.

Is anyone verifying these claims?

I would like to know that too, because currently all sources on the Ecosia Wikipedia page are either self-published or primary, so the article reads like an ad. If this really is working and we can all truly combat deforestation and global warming by watching Ecosia's ads, I'd like to know.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosia

Do users know where these tree they have planted are?

They say on average you need 45 searches to plant a tree.

Their own FAQ says that it takes about 45 searches to plant a tree. So at 10 trees / person, that's about 450 searches.

>We know that Ecosia earns an average of 0.5 cents (EUR) per search. It costs our tree planting partners about 0.22 EUR to plant a tree. 22 cents divided by 0.5 cents makes about 45 searches until we can plant one new tree. Depending on clicks on ads and how much search ad revenue these generate for Ecosia, it may take fewer searches. Think of it this way: we currently fund the planting of a new tree every second.

...how much profit do you think a search engine makes per user?

Way more than what Ecosia's managed so far. Others here have said they only earn from clicks though. Because they aren't selling user data on the side and they are a business with their own expenses, maybe this amount is as optimized as possible.

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