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Ask HN: Does Google look at !g queries to help improve search results?

• lights0123 6y ago
  Google can't even tell that the search is coming from DuckDuckGo, as DDG sends this when redirecting to a Google-owned service: <meta name='referrer' content='never'> Interestingly, it doesn't to other networks. For example, Wikipedia, Reddit, and Twitter redirects use this: <meta name='referrer' content='origin'> So they can tell it's from DDG, but not the exact URL (not that it matters because they get the query anyways)
  • sidpatil 6y ago
    Right, but he's referring to queries done on Google itself by users who thought they were using DDG but weren't.
    • fbelzile 6y ago
      I added the text to clarify the question later.
  • tinus_hn 6y ago
    Do they not send it to a custom URL? I thought Google would pay for sending them traffic.
• naebother 6y ago
  Are you asking if Google accounts for the bangs? You probably won't get a straight answer, but it's certainly possible. I believe Google keeps track of the order of your searches, so they might take that into account if you remove the bang and click through to what you were looking for.
• cpach 6y ago
  My guess: Probably not.
• mrfusion 6y ago
  I’d guess being a monopoly they really don’t care to stress over small improvements.
• brainfog 6y ago
  That is probably less than a rounding error in terms of traffic.