5 ms·

Would love to switch to DDG, but it consistently gives me search results that do not contain s search term at all, even when I wrap it in double quotes. So the

Would love to switch to DDG, but it consistently gives me search results that do not contain s search term at all, even when I wrap it in double quotes. So they give me thousands of non relevant search results.

marcosdumay 7y ago
It's actually weird to see that in a DDG x Google comparison... But yes, DDG has started giving me results with entire terms removed from the search since recently, and I have to add quotes all the time to get them back. But at least with DDG we have to option of quoting the terms. Google is much worse at this in any way you care to measure.
- bitL 7y ago
  No, they actually started removing even quoted terms from search like 2-3 months ago or so; as a consequence I am now looking for DDG alternatives. First Google results became bad, now DDG seems to copy the same "failure" of the "dominant player" instead of standing out and being useful.
- ConceptJunkie 7y ago
  Yes, I've found this to be the case. Today I was searching for "DVD-RAM" and most of the results from DDG did not contain the term at all, with or without quotes.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
swebs 7y ago
Duckduckgo uses Bing search in the back end, which is dogshit. Alternatively, you can use Startpage, which uses Google results, but anonymized.
- paulryanrogers 7y ago
  Is Startpage still anonymous? I thought they got bought by an adtech firm
  - MeteorMarc 7y ago
    Startpage.com is and always has been anonymous, according to Wikipedia and without any credible sources denying this. Where did you get your suggestion?
    - ghostpepper 7y ago
      This is linked from another comment here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21371577 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21371577
    - briandear 7y ago
      On the other hand, Wikipedia isn’t a “creditable source.” I have no dog in this fight, but the tendency to use Wikipedia to prove things is annoying.
  - F00bart 7y ago
    Link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21371577 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21371577
- F00bart 7y ago
  Duckduckgo claims to use 400 sources [0], so you’re probably not totally spot on. Edit: However, that includes their Instant Answers feature, and the numbers are outdated, it’s 1600 sources, most of which are catering to an specific and tiny niche (like angular.js docs, or a dictionary of accounting terms). Main sources are Bing, Yahoo, Wolfram Alpha and their own crawler (according to Wikipedia). [0] https://help.duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/sources/ https://help.duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/so...
  - rvnx 7y ago
    They say: 1 source = 1 widget/instant hack That's not for the SERP ;) It's mostly Bing/Yahoo/Yandex rebranded depending on the country.
- Vaslo 7y ago
  I use Bing everyday, get points towards gift cards, and literally never have any issues finding anything I search for, personal or technical.
  - jrnichols 7y ago
    I too have enjoyed Bing more these days. I've always enjoyed their daily travel images especially, and the search results have been decent.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- tzs 7y ago
  > Duckduckgo uses Bing search in the back end, which is dogshit Bing seems fine to me. When I got a Surface Pro 4 three years ago, I decided to give Edge a try to see if it would do as my main browser, and left Bing as its default search. Three years later, I've not felt the need to change that.
jordigh 7y ago
Use +"quotes and a plus sign".
mrpopo 7y ago
I've seen this a lot more with Google search actually. Google tries to outsmart me and show me what they think I want instead of what I'm searching. And I can't believe that you would get thousands of non relevant results. Please show an example.
Pxtl 7y ago
It also doesn't have the good locality of Google search. It's like a timewarp back 15 years ago when I had to put "Canada" into every Google search query to tell them I want the Canadian version of the site.
- ghostpepper 7y ago
  This used to annoy me as well until I realized it's a very minor inconvenience compared to the benefit of not having my location data collected every time I search.
- zrobotics 7y ago
  You can enable localization on DDG, but by default it's off. Personally, I think that not tracking location is a saner default, but it is an option that you can enable.
pmoriarty 7y ago
When you run across broken searches like that, you can report them to DDG and they'll fix them.

marcosdumay 7y ago

It's actually weird to see that in a DDG x Google comparison... But yes, DDG has started giving me results with entire terms removed from the search since recently, and I have to add quotes all the time to get them back. But at least with DDG we have to option of quoting the terms. Google is much worse at this in any way you care to measure.

bitL 7y ago
No, they actually started removing even quoted terms from search like 2-3 months ago or so; as a consequence I am now looking for DDG alternatives. First Google results became bad, now DDG seems to copy the same "failure" of the "dominant player" instead of standing out and being useful.
ConceptJunkie 7y ago
Yes, I've found this to be the case. Today I was searching for "DVD-RAM" and most of the results from DDG did not contain the term at all, with or without quotes.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

swebs 7y ago

Duckduckgo uses Bing search in the back end, which is dogshit. Alternatively, you can use Startpage, which uses Google results, but anonymized.

paulryanrogers 7y ago
Is Startpage still anonymous? I thought they got bought by an adtech firm
- MeteorMarc 7y ago
  Startpage.com is and always has been anonymous, according to Wikipedia and without any credible sources denying this. Where did you get your suggestion?
  - ghostpepper 7y ago
    This is linked from another comment here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21371577 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21371577
  - briandear 7y ago
    On the other hand, Wikipedia isn’t a “creditable source.” I have no dog in this fight, but the tendency to use Wikipedia to prove things is annoying.
- F00bart 7y ago
  Link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21371577 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21371577
F00bart 7y ago
Duckduckgo claims to use 400 sources [0], so you’re probably not totally spot on. Edit: However, that includes their Instant Answers feature, and the numbers are outdated, it’s 1600 sources, most of which are catering to an specific and tiny niche (like angular.js docs, or a dictionary of accounting terms). Main sources are Bing, Yahoo, Wolfram Alpha and their own crawler (according to Wikipedia). [0] https://help.duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/sources/ https://help.duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/so...
- rvnx 7y ago
  They say: 1 source = 1 widget/instant hack That's not for the SERP ;) It's mostly Bing/Yahoo/Yandex rebranded depending on the country.
Vaslo 7y ago
I use Bing everyday, get points towards gift cards, and literally never have any issues finding anything I search for, personal or technical.
- jrnichols 7y ago
  I too have enjoyed Bing more these days. I've always enjoyed their daily travel images especially, and the search results have been decent.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
tzs 7y ago
> Duckduckgo uses Bing search in the back end, which is dogshit Bing seems fine to me. When I got a Surface Pro 4 three years ago, I decided to give Edge a try to see if it would do as my main browser, and left Bing as its default search. Three years later, I've not felt the need to change that.

jordigh 7y ago

Use +"quotes and a plus sign".

mrpopo 7y ago

I've seen this a lot more with Google search actually. Google tries to outsmart me and show me what they think I want instead of what I'm searching. And I can't believe that you would get thousands of non relevant results. Please show an example.

Pxtl 7y ago

It also doesn't have the good locality of Google search. It's like a timewarp back 15 years ago when I had to put "Canada" into every Google search query to tell them I want the Canadian version of the site.

ghostpepper 7y ago
This used to annoy me as well until I realized it's a very minor inconvenience compared to the benefit of not having my location data collected every time I search.
zrobotics 7y ago
You can enable localization on DDG, but by default it's off. Personally, I think that not tracking location is a saner default, but it is an option that you can enable.

pmoriarty 7y ago

When you run across broken searches like that, you can report them to DDG and they'll fix them.