4 ms·

DDG is getting better with time. I completely switched to DDG about 2 years ago. I tried Google search recently and found its results are less relevant and pre

DDG is getting better with time. I completely switched to DDG about 2 years ago. I tried Google search recently and found its results are less relevant and presented in an awkward form where I cannot copy result's URL (searched for a technical paper). DDG is clear winner.

Const-me 8y ago
How do you copy the URL? Neither of them shows direct URL to search results, https://duckduckgo.com/l/?.. https://duckduckgo.com/l/?... is no better than https://www.google.com/url?.. https://www.google.com/url?...
- aembleton 8y ago
  In Google - do a search for hackernews. This site is the number one result. Right click on it, copy the link location and this is what is in your clipboard: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjtkqHs55HdAhXsI8AKHXhzAG4QFjAAegQIBBAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.ycombinator.com%2F&usg=AOvVaw3F-2xUE22tTvOxNDwVuff- https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web... In DuckDuckGo, you do the same search and also get the same top result, but when you copy the link location for that top result you get this: https://news.ycombinator.com/ https://news.ycombinator.com/
  - Const-me 8y ago
    > when you copy the link location for that top result you get this: https://news.ycombinator.com/ https://news.ycombinator.com/ I’m getting https://duckduckgo.com/l/?kh=-1&uddg=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.ycombinator.com%2F https://duckduckgo.com/l/?kh=-1&uddg=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.ycom... Update: in Firefox I'm indeed getting https://news.ycombinator.com/ https://news.ycombinator.com/ But I use MS Edge as primary browser, and for MS Edge, DDG returns me the above redirection URL.
    - wallacoloo 8y ago
      I’ll bet this has something to do with the Referer header. Iirc DDG used to always use this forwarding method so that you don’t leak your search phrase to the site you’re going to. I wonder if now there’s a way for DDG to instruct Firefox to omit the Referer header (or if DDG detects that you have Firefox configured to not send the header), but that Edge still sends the Referer header?
      - Const-me 8y ago
        You’re right, I’ve found the article about that: https://duck.co/help/results/rduckduckgocom https://duck.co/help/results/rduckduckgocom And also found “Redirect (when necessary)” setting. I’ve switched off the setting and tested with web debugger. Apparently MS Edge respects the “referrer-policy: origin” HTTP header i.e. it only sends “Referer: https://duckduckgo.com/” https://duckduckgo.com/” without query strings attached. However, duckduckgo treat MS Edge the same way as IE, i.e. it doesn’t believe it’s not an older browser. I’ve wrote their support, hopefully they’ll fix soon. Meanwhile, I’ve switched off “Redirect (when necessary)” setting and it works OK on this PC.
  - def_true_false 8y ago
    Undirect [1] (for Chrome) and Google search link fix (for Firefox) [2] can help with that. [1] https://github.com/xwipeoutx/undirect https://github.com/xwipeoutx/undirect [2] https://github.com/palant/searchlinkfix https://github.com/palant/searchlinkfix

Const-me 8y ago

How do you copy the URL? Neither of them shows direct URL to search results, https://duckduckgo.com/l/?.. https://duckduckgo.com/l/?... is no better than https://www.google.com/url?.. https://www.google.com/url?...

aembleton 8y ago
In Google - do a search for hackernews. This site is the number one result. Right click on it, copy the link location and this is what is in your clipboard: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjtkqHs55HdAhXsI8AKHXhzAG4QFjAAegQIBBAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.ycombinator.com%2F&usg=AOvVaw3F-2xUE22tTvOxNDwVuff- https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web... In DuckDuckGo, you do the same search and also get the same top result, but when you copy the link location for that top result you get this: https://news.ycombinator.com/ https://news.ycombinator.com/
- Const-me 8y ago
  > when you copy the link location for that top result you get this: https://news.ycombinator.com/ https://news.ycombinator.com/ I’m getting https://duckduckgo.com/l/?kh=-1&uddg=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.ycombinator.com%2F https://duckduckgo.com/l/?kh=-1&uddg=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.ycom... Update: in Firefox I'm indeed getting https://news.ycombinator.com/ https://news.ycombinator.com/ But I use MS Edge as primary browser, and for MS Edge, DDG returns me the above redirection URL.
  - wallacoloo 8y ago
    I’ll bet this has something to do with the Referer header. Iirc DDG used to always use this forwarding method so that you don’t leak your search phrase to the site you’re going to. I wonder if now there’s a way for DDG to instruct Firefox to omit the Referer header (or if DDG detects that you have Firefox configured to not send the header), but that Edge still sends the Referer header?
    - Const-me 8y ago
      You’re right, I’ve found the article about that: https://duck.co/help/results/rduckduckgocom https://duck.co/help/results/rduckduckgocom And also found “Redirect (when necessary)” setting. I’ve switched off the setting and tested with web debugger. Apparently MS Edge respects the “referrer-policy: origin” HTTP header i.e. it only sends “Referer: https://duckduckgo.com/” https://duckduckgo.com/” without query strings attached. However, duckduckgo treat MS Edge the same way as IE, i.e. it doesn’t believe it’s not an older browser. I’ve wrote their support, hopefully they’ll fix soon. Meanwhile, I’ve switched off “Redirect (when necessary)” setting and it works OK on this PC.
- def_true_false 8y ago
  Undirect [1] (for Chrome) and Google search link fix (for Firefox) [2] can help with that. [1] https://github.com/xwipeoutx/undirect https://github.com/xwipeoutx/undirect [2] https://github.com/palant/searchlinkfix https://github.com/palant/searchlinkfix