How Ranking Works

Luminos re-ranks search results using a quality-scoring system designed to surface higher-quality, less SEO-gamed content. Here's exactly how it works.

Quality Badges

High (70-100)

Original, authoritative content from reputable sources

Medium (40-69)

Decent content with some SEO optimization

Low (0-39)

Heavy SEO, possible content farm or spam

Quality Scoring System

Every result that Luminos returns is scored on a 0–100 scale using multiple quality signals. This score determines a High, Medium, or Low quality badge displayed next to each result. Scoring factors include: - Domain reputation — Established, editorially-maintained sites (.edu, .gov, major publications, open-source project docs) receive a boost. Known content farms receive a penalty. - Content originality — Unique, well-structured content scores higher than templated or boilerplate pages. - Ad density — Pages with excessive advertising or affiliate link patterns are down-weighted. - Title quality — Keyword-stuffed titles with excessive separators (pipes, dashes) indicate SEO gaming. - URL structure — Deeply nested URLs with many parameters often indicate auto-generated content farm pages. - Snippet depth — Pages that produce thin, uninformative snippets suggest low-value content.

Strict Mode

When you enable Strict Mode, Luminos raises the visibility threshold. Only results scoring 50 or higher are shown, filtering out low-quality SEO-optimized content. This is ideal when you want authoritative, well-sourced answers without wading through spam. In Standard Mode, all results are shown but still re-ranked by quality score, so the best content surfaces first even without filtering.

Ranking Transparency

Every result includes a "Why this ranking?" expandable section that explains: - How the domain's reputation was assessed - What content quality signals were detected - The estimated ad density level This transparency lets you make informed decisions about which sources to trust. No other search engine offers this level of visibility into why results appear where they do.

AI-Generated Summaries

For queries where we have high confidence in our sources, Luminos generates an AI overview that synthesizes information from the top-ranking results. These summaries include inline citations so you can verify claims against the original sources. AI summaries are only shown when source confidence is high — we'd rather show no summary than a misleading one. The summary is always labeled as AI-generated content.

Anti-Spam Philosophy

The modern web is flooded with SEO-optimized content farms, AI-generated spam, and ad-heavy pages designed to rank well but serve users poorly. Luminos exists to push back against this trend. Our principles: 1. Content quality matters more than backlink count 2. Original research outranks paraphrased summaries 3. Transparent methodology builds trust 4. Users deserve to know why they see what they see 5. Ad-heavy pages should never outrank ad-light alternatives We continuously update our scoring signals as spam techniques evolve.