Alternative search engines to Google?

[11522914]

I've started using Brave and love it. Very fast and it provides excellent private security features.

https://brave.com/

 

[Qs Laptop]

I take it people using DuckDuckGo actually believe them when they say they don't track you?

 

[misanman]

I use the DuckDuckGo app on my android phone.

 

[easysurfer]

I use duckduckgo as my default search engines also.

I do use google maps though as sometimes, just want a street view.

 

[Car-Guy]

I take it people using DuckDuckGo actually believe them when they say they don't track you?

 

[Music Lover]

I take it people using DuckDuckGo actually believe them when they say they don't track you?

Regardless of whether they track you or not, DuckDuck is far superior to Google because Google's algorithm heavily weights searches to their preferred sites and actively suppresses websites that they disagree with.

 

[Sojourner]

I've started using Brave and love it. Very fast and it provides excellent private security features.

https://brave.com/

+1

Both the Brave browser and search engine are great. The browser is very lightweight and loads quickly, as opposed to Chrome and MS Edge which are both huge resource gluttons.

 

[COcheesehead]

If you are concerned about tracking and you have an Apple device, they will actually tell you who is tracking you and what you can do to block it.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Regardless of whether they track you or not, DuckDuck is far superior to Google because Google's algorithm heavily weights searches to their preferred sites and actively suppresses websites that they disagree with.

While I suppose this is true, how do you know it for sure? Because DuckDuckGo tells you so?

 

[Chuckanut]

My grands think the duck is cute.

 

[Chuckanut]

I take it people using DuckDuckGo actually believe them when they say they don't track you?

Do you have evidence they are tracking their users?

 

[statsman]

Doesn't DuckDuckGo utilize Google's search data?

 

[Music Lover]

While I suppose this is true, how do you know it for sure? Because DuckDuckGo tells you so?

Real life experience plus I've read of many other examples and tried them on my own. DuckDuck weights their searches by popularity. Google doesn't in many cases, and actively hides (3 or 4 pages down) popular searches that go against their agenda.

 

[ERD50]

I need to try duckduckgo again. I just checked, and it *does* have the "custom time frame" feature. It must have been "Startpage" that I was using, that still does not have custom dates. Or maybe duckduckgo had a 'start date', but not an 'end date'. I don't recall, but I emailed them at the time, and they responded with "looking into it".

I sometimes find the date range very handy. If there is some big item in the news lately, the searches get inundated with the recent info, which normally is fine. But sometimes I want to know "Hey, what were people saying about this topic 5 years ago?" It's a way of seeing if opinions have changed, or sometimes to detect bias. Sometimes you really just want the info related to a certain time frame.

-ERD50

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

Regardless of whether they track you or not, DuckDuck is far superior to Google because Google's algorithm heavily weights searches to their preferred sites and actively suppresses websites that they disagree with.

He's right.

 

[Lsbcal]

What is a list of things people do not like about Google search other then a general feeling of unease?

 

[JoeWras]

So I reactivated this thread and I'll chime in a bit.

I don't really care about the tracking that much. What I care about is the quality of the search results. That's what got me going this morning. I actually sometimes like tracking. Yeah, I know, sounds crazy. But sometimes using my tracked history is helpful. However, what I don't like is low quality search results. I never thought I'd say that about Google, but their results are going down the toilet.

The search results were very poor and obviously directed to affiliated sites. Duckduckgo seemed to give a more neutral result. Like I said, it reminded me of the Google of 10+ years ago.

BTW, they are pretty open about some things. For instance, if you start shopping, they will prefer Amazon and Ebay.

DDG uses a variety of web search APIs. They are trying to build their own. Least I read they have pretty much divorced themselves from Google and mostly use the Bing API. Maybe some day they'll be on their own.

 

[Lsbcal]

So I reactivated this thread and I'll chime in a bit.

I don't really care about the tracking that much. What I care about is the quality of the search results.
....

Could you give us some examples of low quality search results? Generally I find what I'm looking for but frankly never thought to look at search quality. Just trying to learn here, not criticizing.

 

[JoeWras]

Could you give us some examples of low quality search results? Generally I find what I'm looking for but frankly never thought to look at search quality. Just trying to learn here, not criticizing.

A few things. Some of this may be configurable.

1) Google now fills a lot of space with "FAQ type questions" (People also ask) instead of just giving me results. I think this is really irritating me and probably can be turned off if I find the nerd knob.

2) Google shoots for what appear to be paid affiliations first. When it comes to sports searches, you'll get theathletic (subscription required) and draftkings. In my world, these are low quality for a search. The Athletic is a fine publication, very good as a matter of fact. But I don't want it top of my search. Sorry. I don't do quasi gambling, so draftkings is out.

 

[Lsbcal]

Thanks Joe. I guess many of us have unique search expectations.

 

[misanman]

What is a list of things people do not like about Google search other then a general feeling of unease?

Two things:

1. Being hit with ads related to a recent search, especially when the purpose of the search has nothing to do with the prospect of buying anything.
2. Entering a search that is very specific and then having the desired result pushed down on the list of results in favor of some other reference that is high on the search engine's priority list but low on mine. I've learned that I need to read the result item to ensure it is valid.

I have an android phone (which I like) but a while back we were playing a family game in which I spoke the words "red popsicle" as part of the game play. Strangely, about 30 minutes later I started seeing ads on my phone that included the words "red popsicle".

 

[ERD50]

Another thing to do that might be interesting (I haven't really spent much time on this), is to do the search in a private window. Compare results with being signed in .

-ERD50

 

[JoeWras]

Another thing to do that might be interesting (I haven't really spent much time on this), is to do the search in a private window. Compare results with being signed in .

-ERD50

I do this. There are slight differences. As I mentioned before, the Google tracking doesn't bother me that much, right now. It is usually helpful.

What bothers me is misanman's #2 point. Google has a priority list that they push to you. To me it looks mostly based on cash-back in their pocket. To others, the political aspect is seen. Both suck.

 

[USGrant1962]

In a private/incognito window try searching for "early retirement" with each site. Duckduck lists ssa.gov, an AARP article, and then good old early-retirement.org third. Seems about right with "early retirement" actually in this URL.

In Google this site is many pages down. I'm not sure where - I gave up scrolling. They have ssa.gov and AARP, followed by lots of random big media articles and financial advisor sites, AKA advertisers. Searching "early retirement forum" does find this site first in Google.

Interestingly, I have the ddg extension installed and when I search I don't get any ads. If I go to the ddg site I get the same results, but with a couple of ads up front.

 

[Lsbcal]

Businesses optimize for Google so finding a bias in Google search is more probable i would guess.