You’re right, but also DuckDuckGo kinda… sucks. Like I know it’s better than Google morally and I’ve switched it to my default search engine, but it just doesn’t give me good results. Maybe I’ve been coddled by Google’s summaries what have often been extremely helpful, but the best DDG has given me is the Wikipedia article for a topic that I can Ctrl+F myself
It seems like it flat out doesn’t include more than two keywords in searches and while Google is cursed with ads and sites that gamed the algorithm, DDG’s results are ad cursed in another way.
Also, DDG, if you’re listening, I’m begging you, either let me search for porn by videos on your site, OR STOP ADVERTISING ON PORNHUB!
I've used DDG as my main search engine for years, and still at least once a week I have to switch my search engine to Google in order to find something. It definitely isn't as good as Google for some things.
Same. One of the things that drives me crazy is that if you search for an uncommon term or unique wording, it assumes you don't really mean that and ignores it. Almost always that specific wording or strange word is the exact thing I'm looking for, and I'm wording it that way to filter out irrelevant results. I've used DDG as my main search engine for about 10 years and it's fine for basic stuff, but for anything specific and niche (like finding a certain tumblr post or weird meme) I have to go back to Google.
fwiw there is an advanced search option in ddg where you can select "verbatim" so it only searches for the words on your query. which is nuts it not the default, but it's there I guess
Why don't you just include that term in quotes? That way you are forcing the engine to look for that specific thing. I've also used DDG as the main search engine for the past 12-14 years or so, and with that I don't have to go to Google more than once in half a year
Honestly, the results are good enough for 99% of my searches, and the few times I’m not getting what I want I still have the option to open Google in another tab and check there.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s worth switching my default search engine for my blood pressure alone.
I gave DDG a try once. Suddenly, everytime I copied a long link, it copied the ... indicator instead of the actual link text. Gave up on it after that.
I was you and then about halfway through the 300 (?) free searches I was converted. It seems so stupid to pay for it but it genuinely is worth it. At least try the free searches and see for yourself.
The best feature is the ability to customize the prioritization. So I have mine set to heavily deprioritize fandom.com, and prioritize a certain independent fan wiki, and Reddit. You can also have it auto replace urls! There is an older unofficial wiki for my OS and I have set Kagi to redirect those results to the official wiki.
People said the same shit about streaming services, and what happened when they got popular?
I'm not fucking paying for a search engine, and if you had any sense you wouldn't either. All this will do is incentivize other companies to make theirs paid, and then they'll start doing the same shit (and worse) that the free ones are doing now. All a paying userbase is, is a captive fucking audience.
It seems like it flat out doesn’t include more than two keywords in searches
You know I never put it together but this would explain why I've struggled to find certain things! It really does seem like sometimes it finds results that relate strongly to part of your query, and adding words doesn't make a difference.
I've been using DDG for years on an Android device. Still prefer Firefox to the DDG browser though. I just need one of them to make a mobile OS because Android OS is getting worse with every update.
Yeah, I switched to DuckDuckGo a while back but it's just not really the same. I have to really specify my search prompts or else it just gives me generalized, professional stuff
Unfortunately DDG, or rather its Bing backend, is bad at precisely the task shown in the OP: instead of the meme with the particular words, it will show either a lot of stock images, or porn. Google easily finds the meme.
Ive been using ddg as default for a while and while overall its nice I still find myself sometimes switching back to google briefly because even still it often just gets better results. I wish it weren't so but for some reason ddg just doesnt do as well.
Thing is, if you're using a search engine, you're either using Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo, everything else is either built on top of Google or Bing or is built for a specific niche and unfit for general use. DuckDuckGo isn't perfect but it's the only option that isn't just a new flavour of Google or Microsoft for most people
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u/Peroxide_ May 29 '26
DuckDuckGo let's you turn off the AI shit.