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I mean, searching something on DDG and then on Bing gives almost identical results.

Retric 6y ago
Just did a search for tempest on bing, duck duck go, and google, and ddg was closer to google than bing. Which is fairly common, they are each the odd one out on some searches. Though I think google’s personalized search results make it seem very different to some people. Pick something really odd like “Purple car teacup” and google seems to give really bad results. 3 links to amazon, 2 to Pinterest, and 2 to EBay. They all link to thepurpleteacup.com, but only google has a Yoycart link, it also wants to replace car with cat. I think Bing started off with the best image search and ddg the worst, though bing wanted to ignore teacup for the bottom half of it’s results.
- mda 6y ago
  Try a more complex query. e.g. "difference between wet and dry suit" bing and ddg web site results are almost identical, only ranking differences. Youtube results on the page are identical. Google is quite different. "average temperature of a dog" Again bing ddg very similar, Google completely different. "average lifespan of a domestic cat" "list of medication that has interactions with grapefruit". Just try more complex theories. The importance of ddg / bing relation is something they specifically and actively try to hide behind smoke and mirrors.
  - Retric 6y ago
    “average temperature of a dog“ Bing and ddg are somewhat closer, but far from identical. Include the second page of googles results, and all three have vetinfo.com etc, but bing and google have two links to www.quora.com where ddg doesn’t have any. I only bring that up because of you compare results under the assumption that bing and ddg are identical it’s easy to overstate the similarities.
    - philistine 6y ago
      I mean, what IS the average temperature of a dog?
    - mda 6y ago
      I didn't say identical. They apparently use the same index, not necessarily the same ranking algorithm or the same version of it.
chris_f 6y ago
A trick I use to identify the source of unknown search results is to compare the SERP to a search engine that I know uses the primary source (usually Bing or Google) indirectly. So for example, instead of comparing unknown results directly to the Bing SERP, I will compare it to Ecosia's SERP because it is powered by Bing will generally be less manipulated (i.e. closer to what Bing just returns in their API). Bing also adds a lot of other information to their own SERP which they might not make available in their API. It's definitely not a fingerprint, but the source of organic SERPs are almost always identifiable.

Just did a search for tempest on bing, duck duck go, and google, and ddg was closer to google than bing. Which is fairly common, they are each the odd one out on some searches. Though I think google’s personalized search results make it seem very different to some people. Pick something really odd like “Purple car teacup” and google seems to give really bad results. 3 links to amazon, 2 to Pinterest, and 2 to EBay. They all link to thepurpleteacup.com, but only google has a Yoycart link, it also wants to replace car with cat. I think Bing started off with the best image search and ddg the worst, though bing wanted to ignore teacup for the bottom half of it’s results.

mda 6y ago
Try a more complex query. e.g. "difference between wet and dry suit" bing and ddg web site results are almost identical, only ranking differences. Youtube results on the page are identical. Google is quite different. "average temperature of a dog" Again bing ddg very similar, Google completely different. "average lifespan of a domestic cat" "list of medication that has interactions with grapefruit". Just try more complex theories. The importance of ddg / bing relation is something they specifically and actively try to hide behind smoke and mirrors.
- Retric 6y ago
  “average temperature of a dog“ Bing and ddg are somewhat closer, but far from identical. Include the second page of googles results, and all three have vetinfo.com etc, but bing and google have two links to www.quora.com where ddg doesn’t have any. I only bring that up because of you compare results under the assumption that bing and ddg are identical it’s easy to overstate the similarities.
  - philistine 6y ago
    I mean, what IS the average temperature of a dog?
  - mda 6y ago
    I didn't say identical. They apparently use the same index, not necessarily the same ranking algorithm or the same version of it.

chris_f 6y ago

A trick I use to identify the source of unknown search results is to compare the SERP to a search engine that I know uses the primary source (usually Bing or Google) indirectly. So for example, instead of comparing unknown results directly to the Bing SERP, I will compare it to Ecosia's SERP because it is powered by Bing will generally be less manipulated (i.e. closer to what Bing just returns in their API). Bing also adds a lot of other information to their own SERP which they might not make available in their API. It's definitely not a fingerprint, but the source of organic SERPs are almost always identifiable.