4 ms·

I disagree about search result quality. I switched to DDG over a year ago and only need to use !g bangs when I search either for some specific local stuff or wh

I disagree about search result quality. I switched to DDG over a year ago and only need to use !g bangs when I search either for some specific local stuff or when I search for news that have happened in the last day or two. Actually, in some cases DDG gives more relevant search results than Google, especially for programming stuff.

apatters 7y ago
+1 for having zero issues at all with using DDG as my daily driver, I only use Google for some local searches and currency conversions. DDG results have improved every year even as Google's have gotten much worse. Edit: just realized that DDG does currency conversion too, there's one less class of searches that goes to Google!
vic-traill 7y ago
I concur. I only occasionally use !g w/ DDG now, whereas two years ago it was more frequent (although I can't quantify). I stuck w/ it as I wanted some distance between myself and Google. Whether I've achieved any distance is an open question and I suspect that it is less than it feels like when I use DDG. The results are comparable in my current experience. Compage searches for 'bluetooth speakers' on Google [0] and DDG [1]. In my location (Canada) DDG returns national results which are preferred and relevant. I like that on the DDG results page the ad is clearly separated from organic results and I get the results w/out a mapping insert. That's just my preference, though. Even the results URLs speak volumes. I have no idea what data - if any - I'm exposing about myself w/ the Google result. [0] https://www.google.ca/search?source=hp&ei=KyUsXtPGIIGL5wKRx7OYDg&q=bluetooth+speakers&oq=bluetooth+speakers&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l10.1203.5693..6226...0.0..0.113.1277.17j1......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i131.6l0tVnNAqTY&ved=0ahUKEwiTiK7R0Z7nAhWBxVkKHZHjDOMQ4dUDCAg&uact=5 https://www.google.ca/search?source=hp&ei=KyUsXtPGIIGL5wKRx7... [1] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=bluetooth+speakers&ia=shopping https://duckduckgo.com/?q=bluetooth+speakers&ia=shopping
- wizzwizz4 7y ago
  I really recommend editing out most of that URL, or at least shoving something an escape in there to stop it being clickable.
  - vic-traill 7y ago
    I missed the edit window. I do appreciate the heads up, thanks.
BjoernKW 7y ago
This is what I keep hearing about DuckDuckGo and I'd really like this to be true for myself and my search engine usage. Unfortunately, however, having used DuckDuckGo for the last few weeks my experience has been quite the opposite (described here in some more detail: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22106837 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22106837 ), especially when it comes to programming-related queries.
- clarry 7y ago
  It would be nice to conduct these experiments while actually saving the searches (and results) for further study & ideas from the community on how to improve them. I hear a lot of anecdotes about search working/not working but concrete examples remain elusive.
  - BjoernKW 7y ago
    Intriguing idea. It'd be interesting to get DuckDuckGo involved in such a project because it's in their interest to improve search query matches. Maybe, a browser plugin that allows you to easily report less than optimal or even irrelevant search results to DuckDuckGo (including a comparison with other search engine in case those yield more appropriate results) would be quite useful. This obviously has privacy implications, though.

apatters 7y ago

+1 for having zero issues at all with using DDG as my daily driver, I only use Google for some local searches and currency conversions. DDG results have improved every year even as Google's have gotten much worse. Edit: just realized that DDG does currency conversion too, there's one less class of searches that goes to Google!

vic-traill 7y ago

I concur. I only occasionally use !g w/ DDG now, whereas two years ago it was more frequent (although I can't quantify). I stuck w/ it as I wanted some distance between myself and Google. Whether I've achieved any distance is an open question and I suspect that it is less than it feels like when I use DDG. The results are comparable in my current experience. Compage searches for 'bluetooth speakers' on Google [0] and DDG [1]. In my location (Canada) DDG returns national results which are preferred and relevant. I like that on the DDG results page the ad is clearly separated from organic results and I get the results w/out a mapping insert. That's just my preference, though. Even the results URLs speak volumes. I have no idea what data - if any - I'm exposing about myself w/ the Google result. [0] https://www.google.ca/search?source=hp&ei=KyUsXtPGIIGL5wKRx7OYDg&q=bluetooth+speakers&oq=bluetooth+speakers&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l10.1203.5693..6226...0.0..0.113.1277.17j1......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i131.6l0tVnNAqTY&ved=0ahUKEwiTiK7R0Z7nAhWBxVkKHZHjDOMQ4dUDCAg&uact=5 https://www.google.ca/search?source=hp&ei=KyUsXtPGIIGL5wKRx7... [1] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=bluetooth+speakers&ia=shopping https://duckduckgo.com/?q=bluetooth+speakers&ia=shopping

wizzwizz4 7y ago
I really recommend editing out most of that URL, or at least shoving something an escape in there to stop it being clickable.
- vic-traill 7y ago
  I missed the edit window. I do appreciate the heads up, thanks.

BjoernKW 7y ago

This is what I keep hearing about DuckDuckGo and I'd really like this to be true for myself and my search engine usage. Unfortunately, however, having used DuckDuckGo for the last few weeks my experience has been quite the opposite (described here in some more detail: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22106837 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22106837 ), especially when it comes to programming-related queries.

clarry 7y ago
It would be nice to conduct these experiments while actually saving the searches (and results) for further study & ideas from the community on how to improve them. I hear a lot of anecdotes about search working/not working but concrete examples remain elusive.
- BjoernKW 7y ago
  Intriguing idea. It'd be interesting to get DuckDuckGo involved in such a project because it's in their interest to improve search query matches. Maybe, a browser plugin that allows you to easily report less than optimal or even irrelevant search results to DuckDuckGo (including a comparison with other search engine in case those yield more appropriate results) would be quite useful. This obviously has privacy implications, though.