4 ms·

In my experience, being a DDG user for several years, I use search to find answers to some problem I'm facing. If I can find it, I'm happy, without caring about

by yumraj 5y ago

In my experience, being a DDG user for several years, I use search to find answers to some problem I'm facing. If I can find it, I'm happy, without caring about if Google would have given me better results. I don't spend my time comparing between the two. Based on the above, I'm been mostly satisfied, I'll say 99% of the time. In the 1% of cases where DDG has not provided me an answer to my problem, as a hail mary I try !g (Google) and sometime I get an answer and many times not. So, IMO the difference in search for most practical uses is minor. Now, add the uncluttered user interface on top of it, DDG wins by a huge margin. Edit: Anecdata, an area where I've found that Google is slightly better, as in having a few more results, is in returning results from forums and sometimes Reddit. But even then, DDG results are mostly sufficient and there are only a very few instances where I've had to do !g.

jacurtis 5y ago
I think the idea that DDG searches are "worse" is vastly overblown. But again, I don't directly compare the two. But using DDG for many years I have searched for my query, scan the title of the top 4-5 results (which are visible w/o scrolling) and click the best one I see in the results. I have managed to find what I needed now on nearly every occasion. Going to page 2 is an incredibly rare occurrence. The one difference I notice between Google and DDG is that DDG shows more search results "above the fold", meaning without scrolling. There are some searches on Google where not even a single legitimate/organic search result is visible without scrolling. The top of the results page is cluttered with all sorts of self-promotion, info boxes, ads, maps, and other garbage. A normal search result usually yields 0-1 (or 2 max) organic results above the fold. So in my opinion that is the trade-off. Is that experience of clutter a better search result? I guess that is a matter of preference, but for me I prefer the simpler results from DDG. I am able to find what I want and the experience is preferable, and my privacy isn't compromised. So to me that is the winner. The one area that I will admit Google has DDG beat is local search. It isn't even a close contest. I append !g to any search query when I am looking for a local result such as costco hours, or the name of a local restaurant to find their page or address. That is the one area where DDG just plain sucks and Google nails it every time.
- yumraj 5y ago
  > The one area that I will admit Google has DDG beat is local search. It isn't even a close contest. I append !g to any search query when I am looking for a local result such as costco hours, or the name of a local restaurant to find their page or address. That is the one area where DDG just plain sucks and Google nails it every time. I agree 100%. Not just Costco hours, but more importantly, as part of Google Maps what are the busy hours of Costco and how busy it is currently. That histogram is fantastic. With Covid that came in very handy at avoiding rush hours..
  - kortilla 5y ago
    It’s unfortunate that feature explicitly depends on the massive surveillance dragnet that Google has with location data.
  - rsj_hn 5y ago
    yeah, Google maps is still the way to go if you are traveling and want to find a good espresso (protip: search for "roaster" rather than "espresso" if you are a snob like me). Also for code related searches. For everything else, DDG is fine.
- marcosdumay 5y ago
  If I turn country-aware search on and add my city to the search I get much more localized results than Google was ever able to give me. And as a bonus, I can add a different city when I want.
joombaga 5y ago
Do you really only !g 1% of the time? I've been trying to use DDG more, but still end up using !g maybe 10-20% of the time. I don't know if the results are actually worse on DDG. Maybe I'm just so accustomed to Google that my eyes are quicker to fix on useful links. The blue page titles definitely help.
- yumraj 5y ago
  > Do you really only !g 1% of the time? Yes, I can confirm that for me personally. Most of the time I don't even think about doing that and I'm mostly satisfied. It's only when I hit a wall then I remember to do !g. So, overall for me it's been working well. As I noted in my edit, one area where Google seems to have an edge is results from relevant forums and the likes. So, sometimes I have to remember to do !g when the results on topics I'm looking for are mostly discussed in some forums. Also, I've become more accustomed to DDG that I find Google different. But, I've been using DDG for longer it seems.
  - jdright 5y ago
    Same here. I do hundreds of queries weekly, and I very very rarely reach for !g, so I would say on my case it is way less than 1%. And even there once reaching !g I may have a 50% chance of not having any improvement on results. Been happy ddl user for the last 7 years and it keeps improving.
- JasonFruit 5y ago
  I've been using it as my primary search for a couple years now, and in the last year or so I'd say I use !g about once a week, usually for local results.
- richiebful1 5y ago
  Personally, I almost never use !g, but I use !maps (google maps) about 1-2% of the time to plan out trips, find places to eat, etc.
- suyula 5y ago
  You'll probably start to style your search queries in a DDG-friendly way over time. I couldn't describe what that style looks like, but it becomes something you don't even notice (in my experience)

by yumraj 5y ago

jacurtis 5y ago

I think the idea that DDG searches are "worse" is vastly overblown. But again, I don't directly compare the two. But using DDG for many years I have searched for my query, scan the title of the top 4-5 results (which are visible w/o scrolling) and click the best one I see in the results. I have managed to find what I needed now on nearly every occasion. Going to page 2 is an incredibly rare occurrence. The one difference I notice between Google and DDG is that DDG shows more search results "above the fold", meaning without scrolling. There are some searches on Google where not even a single legitimate/organic search result is visible without scrolling. The top of the results page is cluttered with all sorts of self-promotion, info boxes, ads, maps, and other garbage. A normal search result usually yields 0-1 (or 2 max) organic results above the fold. So in my opinion that is the trade-off. Is that experience of clutter a better search result? I guess that is a matter of preference, but for me I prefer the simpler results from DDG. I am able to find what I want and the experience is preferable, and my privacy isn't compromised. So to me that is the winner. The one area that I will admit Google has DDG beat is local search. It isn't even a close contest. I append !g to any search query when I am looking for a local result such as costco hours, or the name of a local restaurant to find their page or address. That is the one area where DDG just plain sucks and Google nails it every time.

yumraj 5y ago
> The one area that I will admit Google has DDG beat is local search. It isn't even a close contest. I append !g to any search query when I am looking for a local result such as costco hours, or the name of a local restaurant to find their page or address. That is the one area where DDG just plain sucks and Google nails it every time. I agree 100%. Not just Costco hours, but more importantly, as part of Google Maps what are the busy hours of Costco and how busy it is currently. That histogram is fantastic. With Covid that came in very handy at avoiding rush hours..
- kortilla 5y ago
  It’s unfortunate that feature explicitly depends on the massive surveillance dragnet that Google has with location data.
- rsj_hn 5y ago
  yeah, Google maps is still the way to go if you are traveling and want to find a good espresso (protip: search for "roaster" rather than "espresso" if you are a snob like me). Also for code related searches. For everything else, DDG is fine.
marcosdumay 5y ago
If I turn country-aware search on and add my city to the search I get much more localized results than Google was ever able to give me. And as a bonus, I can add a different city when I want.

joombaga 5y ago

Do you really only !g 1% of the time? I've been trying to use DDG more, but still end up using !g maybe 10-20% of the time. I don't know if the results are actually worse on DDG. Maybe I'm just so accustomed to Google that my eyes are quicker to fix on useful links. The blue page titles definitely help.

yumraj 5y ago
> Do you really only !g 1% of the time? Yes, I can confirm that for me personally. Most of the time I don't even think about doing that and I'm mostly satisfied. It's only when I hit a wall then I remember to do !g. So, overall for me it's been working well. As I noted in my edit, one area where Google seems to have an edge is results from relevant forums and the likes. So, sometimes I have to remember to do !g when the results on topics I'm looking for are mostly discussed in some forums. Also, I've become more accustomed to DDG that I find Google different. But, I've been using DDG for longer it seems.
- jdright 5y ago
  Same here. I do hundreds of queries weekly, and I very very rarely reach for !g, so I would say on my case it is way less than 1%. And even there once reaching !g I may have a 50% chance of not having any improvement on results. Been happy ddl user for the last 7 years and it keeps improving.
JasonFruit 5y ago
I've been using it as my primary search for a couple years now, and in the last year or so I'd say I use !g about once a week, usually for local results.
richiebful1 5y ago
Personally, I almost never use !g, but I use !maps (google maps) about 1-2% of the time to plan out trips, find places to eat, etc.
suyula 5y ago
You'll probably start to style your search queries in a DDG-friendly way over time. I couldn't describe what that style looks like, but it becomes something you don't even notice (in my experience)