Do you count how often you use a search engine per day? Do you think about the millions of searches resulting in advertisement money for Google, Yahoo and all the other companies? Do you ever wish you could re-direct some of that money to a charity and at the same time support your favourite astronomy project?

There’s a way to do that: GoodSearch.

The site relies on Yahoo to generate its search results, so there will be not much difference in what you’re already searching (and finding) today. But there’s a little difference in where the ad money goes: Part of their advertisement revenue (currently about $ 0.01 per search) goes to a US-based charity you select before starting to search.

And here’s how it works: Go to GoodSearch and enter “Astrosphere” in the charity search field on the main page (“enter your favorite charity or school here”). (Astrosphere New Media Association, based in Edwardsville, Illinois, is one of the non-profits responsible for producing CosmoQuest, Astronomy Cast, 365 Days of Astronomy and Telescopes 4 Teachers). When asked if you want to create an account, you can simply click “continue without registering” and you’ll be redirected to the main page, but now with part of the ad money from your searches going to Astrosphere (and feeding a hungry team of scientists & communicators, thus providing you with new and exciting projects).

If you chose to create an account (you can also register via a social network account), there are more ways to support CosmoQuest and Astrosphere: GoodShop and GoodDining (only available for those of you living in the United States).

Now, you may wonder if $ 0.01 per search (plus perhaps some shopping and dining) makes a difference. It does. If you look at the most successful fund-raisers via GoodSearch – both this year and in total -, the numbers are huge. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has raised more than $ 46,000 to date, and the Office of Letters and Light has raised more than $ 3,000 in a single year.

We’d love you to give it a try. If you like it, share it with your friends.

Every search counts.

(And we especially love it when you look up astronomy things.)