Been slowly running into more results from DDG that seem to have some “personal parameter” or difference in search results. I had a search saved from some months ago, went to check it for some references and got new hits involving local organizations that had nothing to do with the search. Opening up a private browser I see that the searches aren’t 100% matching up either.
I see this as only getting worse, I want to be able to enter a search and it searches for my query. Not based on my personality or whatever info is being collected. Does anyone know a search engine that’s reliable and focuses on giving the same results and doesn’t try this “personalized” crap?
Is there a way to get reminded when there’s more replies?
I’ve noticed this too. Not only what you stated, but how the search terms aren’t always respected; ie they do similar terms, even if the term or phrase is in quotes (the quotes should mean exact matches only). They also do a lot of filtering of the results if they feel I shouldn’t be seeing them. I can take my same search query from DDG to Google and most of the time find what I’m looking for.
If I understand DDG correctly, they use Microsoft Bing as their backend for search results. So while they may be branded DDG, the results are in fact out of DDG’a control. It also means we are more subject to Microsoft’s privacy policy than we are to DDG’s.
I’ve been wanting to move away from DDG because of these reasons, but have been unable to find good alternatives. Hopefully someone here can make good suggestions.
DDG uses a bunch of different sources, it’s not just rebranded bing.
also DDG does not send any personal info to its partners, so Microsoft’s privacy policy is not relevant.
OP’s concern is that DDG itself is keeping your personal info and using that to weigh your search results. But that also directly contradicts DDG’s privacy policy, so it’s either a major breach of trust or I think more likely OP is reading into varying search results too much.
The page you link to talks about the search results that come at the top of the page, eg a Wikipedia or Trip Advisor result. The actual search itself comes from Bing, and it’s more than likely that the top page banner also is processed via Bing.
Edit: However, the Wikipedia page does provide more detail, which proves you right and my assumption wrong:
DuckDuckGo’s results are a compilation of “over 400” sources according to itself, including Bing, Yahoo! Search BOSS, Wolfram Alpha, Yandex, and its own web crawler (the DuckDuckBot); but none from Google. It also uses data from crowdsourced sites such as Wikipedia, to populate knowledge panel boxes to the right of the search results.
If I understand DDG correctly, they use Microsoft Bing as their backend for search results. So while they may be branded DDG, the results are in fact out of DDG’a control. It also means we are more subject to Microsoft’s privacy policy than we are to DDG’s.
This is exactly right. DDG is basically a front end that’s supposed to strip out identifying information and then submit your request to Microsoft. [Edit:] Apparently they have expanded from this, according to their Wikipedia page. [/E]
However, after seeing TV ads for DDG not that long ago I kind of lost what faith I had left in them. As a rule of thumb, I’ve never trusted products and services advertised on TV - TV advertising is expensive, and the business expects to make that expense back and then some from their customers.
However, after seeing TV ads for DDG not that long ago I kind of lost what faith I had left in them. As a rule of thumb, I’ve never trusted products and services advertised on TV - TV advertising is expensive, and the business expects to make that expense back and then some from their customers.
DDG doesn’t claim to be non-profit or anything. Their business model is based on revenue from advertising targeted solely from the search queries themselves, not from stored personal data.
Ugh. I use DDG for the privacy, because it sure as fuck isn’t a good search engine.
I use DDG for the privacy as well, but personally I think it works better than Google in my field (software development). The only issue I personally have with DDG is that it lags behind Google in terms of updates, I notice when searching for something that came out or happened only recently.
There aren’t any good search engines anymore, because there isn’t a good internet anymore. SOE has buried the internet’s wealth of information and centralization starved out all the spaces where information used to be. Hell half the forums that used to appear in search results aren’t even online anymore, and live only in the way back machine (which doesn’t come up in results).
There’s so little to find anymore compared to the halcyon days of search engines we remember.
I’ve been noticing that they’ve been getting worse and worse myself. I was recommenced Mojeek and Qwant, but I haven’t made the switch yet. I always forget to use them instead.
thanks for mentioning us; Qwant also uses Bing (same as DDG) so if they don’t have a personal parameter then it should be similar. That being said we (obviously) think people should give Mojeek a go :D
Thanks for letting me know that Qwant is Bing. It’s hard as a typical person to find any info on search engines, so I appreciate the heads up.
no problem, this map might be useful: https://www.searchenginemap.com/
DuckDuckGo is also feeding your search terms into AI development now. I’ve tried it again recently but prefer Ecosia, at least Ecosia lets me more easily get to Google Maps when I want to, rather than trying to push Apple Maps.
