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What does DDG use for an algorithm? Originally Google was just using pagerank but that was too easy to game by SEO. This means DDG needed to address this, and a

What does DDG use for an algorithm? Originally Google was just using pagerank but that was too easy to game by SEO. This means DDG needed to address this, and apparently they have (e.g, search for 'favicon' like the post). How long can we rely on DDG staying neutral in their algorithm?

m0zg 7y ago
They use this little known "algorithm" as their backend: https://www.bing.com/ https://www.bing.com/. It's remarkable, BTW, that most people at the same time believe that Bing sucks, and DDG is "just as good as Google". For me that hasn't been my experience at all: Google is far, far ahead of Bing (and by extension DDG) in terms of relevance.
- pbhjpbhj 7y ago
  It seems possible without bias, DDG went full on with instant results. I guess Bing does those now too, I don't know, but the choice of scope and resources to use can be enough distinction to colour people's perceptions.
blihp 7y ago
AFAIK they don't have their own algo, they are just a front end for other search engines (Bing etc.) depending on where/what you're looking for.
- dragonwriter 7y ago
  They have to have some (possibly trivial) algorithm for aggregating the sources they combine.
  - blihp 7y ago
    If they're doing that, sure. I'm not sure it's that sophisticated. Last I heard they sourced different engines for different types of things/geographies not necessarily mixing results from multiple sources for a single query. But this is all based on things I've read in passing rather than any serious research/insider knowledge.
merpnderp 7y ago
From wikipedia: "DuckDuckGo's results are a compilation of "over 400" sources, including Yahoo! Search BOSS, Wolfram Alpha, Bing, Yandex, its own Web crawler (the DuckDuckBot) and others. It also uses data from crowdsourced sites, including Wikipedia, to populate knowledge panel boxes to the right of the results." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuckDuckGo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuckDuckGo
- rusk 7y ago
  this brings back memories of metacrawler
therealmarv 7y ago
It's a nicer skin with better privacy around mainly this search engine: bing.com from Microsoft.
elihu 7y ago
I think DDG is mostly just a front-end on Bing, at least that's how they've been doing things in the past.

m0zg 7y ago

They use this little known "algorithm" as their backend: https://www.bing.com/ https://www.bing.com/. It's remarkable, BTW, that most people at the same time believe that Bing sucks, and DDG is "just as good as Google". For me that hasn't been my experience at all: Google is far, far ahead of Bing (and by extension DDG) in terms of relevance.

pbhjpbhj 7y ago
It seems possible without bias, DDG went full on with instant results. I guess Bing does those now too, I don't know, but the choice of scope and resources to use can be enough distinction to colour people's perceptions.

blihp 7y ago

AFAIK they don't have their own algo, they are just a front end for other search engines (Bing etc.) depending on where/what you're looking for.

dragonwriter 7y ago
They have to have some (possibly trivial) algorithm for aggregating the sources they combine.
- blihp 7y ago
  If they're doing that, sure. I'm not sure it's that sophisticated. Last I heard they sourced different engines for different types of things/geographies not necessarily mixing results from multiple sources for a single query. But this is all based on things I've read in passing rather than any serious research/insider knowledge.

merpnderp 7y ago

From wikipedia: "DuckDuckGo's results are a compilation of "over 400" sources, including Yahoo! Search BOSS, Wolfram Alpha, Bing, Yandex, its own Web crawler (the DuckDuckBot) and others. It also uses data from crowdsourced sites, including Wikipedia, to populate knowledge panel boxes to the right of the results." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuckDuckGo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuckDuckGo

rusk 7y ago
this brings back memories of metacrawler

therealmarv 7y ago

It's a nicer skin with better privacy around mainly this search engine: bing.com from Microsoft.

elihu 7y ago

I think DDG is mostly just a front-end on Bing, at least that's how they've been doing things in the past.