goo-gle | verb
If you are reading this it is very likely that you are using Google as your main search engine. You don’t know the time zone of Indonesia? Google became literally a verb which describes searching something on the internet. Google is even in the official dictionary of Merriam-Webster:
Google has a worldwide market share of 67%. If you limit this statistic to mobile devices only Google even reaches a worldwide market share of 93%. Why is everyone using Google as their main search engine? Is it because it delivers the best and most accurate results? Because it is simply the strongest brand?
Google ≠ Privacy
If you are using any of Google‘s products – let it be Gmail or Chrome – Google is trying to connect all its services to offer you personalized search results. It is also tracking you and your search results by using extensive cookies, your IP address, and-and-and. But in this article, I don’t want to speak badly about Google. Personalized search results are pretty helpful especially when it comes to your daily life. And let’s be honest if you used Google once it is very hard to leave it behind (if not impossible).
DuckDuckGo = Fair and Anonymous
DuckDuckGo‘s slogan is “The search engine that doesn’t track you”. This is probably also the reason why DuckDuckGo experienced a huge increase in search inquiries after the revelations of Edward Snowden about the NSA. DuckDuckGo is unique because it shows every user worldwide the same search result for a certain search request. Let me give you a short example: It doesn’t matter if you are living in New York City and you are searching for “kangaroos” or if your boyfriend lives in Canberra and he is also searching for “kangaroos”. If you both use DuckDuckGo you both will see exactly the same search result. By using Google instead both of you would get different search results which are based on your search history, location, interests, and much more. In this way, we can actually admit that DuckDuckGo is a fair search engine. DuckDuckGo is pretty privacy centered as it is not storing your IP address and not logging your user information: it is anonymous.
Switching from Google to DuckDuckGo
Around six months ago I decided to change my primary search engine in Safari to DuckDuckGo. Before I decided to use DuckDuckGo as my primary search engine I was using it only pretty irregularly. Google was so far simply the more convenient option. After I switched from Google to DuckDuckGo – at least on my Safari browser – I realized that DuckDuckGo gives me much more accurate and more relevant search results when it comes to specific and technological search requests. So I made DuckDuckGo also the primary search engine in my beloved Chrome browser.
More Accurate Results
I realized that especially if you want to get qualitative, trustworthy, and relevant search results DuckDuckGo is simply the best search engine. This is true if you use search engines for more scientific and technical stuff.
Let’s compare both search engines by simply searching for “end to end encryptionDon’t you This is a term which is
As we can see Google is giving me a Wikipedia article as my very first search result. This might be helpful but I don’t consider this a qualitative source of information. Search results 2-5 are content from commercial companies. 1password and makeuseof.com are clearly using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to rank on Google’s first page. Using SEO means that the texts are written to rank high on Google and not to give us as humans the most relevant information and the best style of writing. If you need scientific sources you could not use any of Google’s search results.
DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo’s first search result is also Wikipedia. But the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th result are extremely informative and relevant if you need scientific and trustworthy information sources. We can see technical wikis, encyclopedias, and two scientific articles. If you are truly interested in the technical aspects of “end to end encryption” DuckDuckGo is definitely the better search engine for you.
What Next?
In the end, DuckDuckGo will save you loads of time when you are researching more scientific or technically advanced terms. DuckDuckGo is extremely helpful when you need trustworthy information you can cite in your scientific papers or in your thesis. That is the reason why I switched to DuckDuckGo on my Mac and my PC. Nevertheless, when I am on the go I usually google for more personalized terms like “Restaurant in Manhattan” and let’s be honest Google is doing the best job when it comes to personalized search results. That’s why I use Google as my only search engine on my mobile phone.
Give DuckDuckGo a try if you need more relevant search results and especially if you annoyed of low-quality SEO content which was only written to rank high in Google.
Try it yourself!
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