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I wonder how many include the google !bang to go direct to google. I love DDG, and have it as the default search on all my devices and browsers, but more than 5

I wonder how many include the google !bang to go direct to google. I love DDG, and have it as the default search on all my devices and browsers, but more than 50% of the time I go directly to google with !g in the search, and another 20% i guess i start at DDG but then add in !g when i find the results inferior. For many searches, google's results I find are better - a common issue I've found it DDG's results are just too general for quite specific searches - .e.g the top result is teh homepage of a brand when I search for something more specific like "brand something something" (sorry i can't come up with a great example right now). I still use DDG as I can use the rest of the bang syntax to get to wikipedia et al, and for certain things the results (e.g. code/technical) are clearly superior to googles. I hope DDG logs all the times I go to DDG, then add in !g, to get some great analytics on when I found the search results lacking!

secretasiandan 15y ago
I don't think it matters how often you do !g, you're still going through ddg, which suggests ddg has a better relationship with you than google. In facilitating your use of google for your specific searches, which you apparently can determine the likelihood of beforehand, ddg gets more of your searches for everything else. This is definitely a win for you and ddg, perhaps even for google if it increases your dependence on queries in general. Also, I don't think ddg is trying to replace google. From your numbers, ddg is getting ~ 30% of your queries without having to implement deep search. ddg doesn't log ip addresses/track you, so they could only probabilistically identify cases where people think ddg would do better but then fall back to google, but it will likely get harder and more computationally intense as they grow.
- heyitsnick 15y ago
  If x% of searches go direct to google or another source, that is x% of the "1 million a day" where DDG doesn't have the opportunity to show me adverts, which is DDG's primary revenue source I assume. So the figure is relevant. But notwithstanding that I agree with your comment - DDG has won me over and has a strong relationship with me. Re. tracking, it's not just searches that I do that go directly to google; it's the times I go to DDG, am unsatisfied with the results, then tack on "!g" to try it on google. This should provide valuable data on when a user deems results not good enough.
dredmorbius 15y ago
Dittos. For many years I pretty much laughed at Google-search wannabes. Now I really want there to be a credible alternative. I've set DDG as my preferred search. But I'm still !banging to Google at least half the time. Can haz moar betters releventz plz!
- epi0Bauqu 15y ago
  We would appreciate any specific examples at https://duckduckgo.com/feedback.html https://duckduckgo.com/feedback.html -- it's a great way to improve! But higher level, !g roughly accounted for 1% of queries yesterday, which also includes all the cases where we ran out of results and people clicked on our Try google link.
  - heyitsnick 15y ago
    Here's a real example that just occurred. A Search for "jquery select visited anchor" on DDG returns the jquery selectors docs first (okay match) and jquery.com match second (useless). A search on google.com, the first 2 results are SO answers that answer exactly my question. My point isn't specifically you rank SO lower than it should imo (although i do think this is the case) - its in general, for me, you return roots of homepages or brands at hte top when the query is clearly looking for something very specific.
    - epi0Bauqu 15y ago
      I'm not seeing that result set at all. Do you have a region set? I'd appreciate emailing me a screen shot if you don't mind at yegg@duckduckgo.com Btw, we index SO ourselves, e.g. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=nginx+apache https://duckduckgo.com/?q=nginx+apache We just have a high bar to show it, but are working on that piece so it comes up more. It's also full punctuation.
      - heyitsnick 15y ago
        Email sent, but for other readers' reference, shots taken in anon chrome: ddg: http://i.minus.com/iKakLPppwCv14.jpg http://i.minus.com/iKakLPppwCv14.jpg google: http://i.minus.com/iZvY24AxfnHRR.jpg http://i.minus.com/iZvY24AxfnHRR.jpg
tammer 15y ago
I've recently done a double-take on my love for Google. I want to love Duck Duck Go. I really do. I tell all my less tech-savy friends/relatives about it. Personally, though, I can't live without deep search. I'd say about 99.9999% of my searches are in the "brand something something" category, and there's not much point in adding an extra step to every search. Unfortunately for DDG, my less tech-savy friends have had a similar experience. Since they're never going to try (or comprehend) the !bangs, after two or three attempts at a deep search they inevitably say "Well this is nice, but Google gives me what I'm looking for exactly." Me, I was on Scroogle until recently when it's availability started to really suffer. Now, it's all Goosh, all the time!
- unicornporn 15y ago
  As in goosh.org/ ?
  - tammer 15y ago
    is there any other? I'd like to know!
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

secretasiandan 15y ago

I don't think it matters how often you do !g, you're still going through ddg, which suggests ddg has a better relationship with you than google. In facilitating your use of google for your specific searches, which you apparently can determine the likelihood of beforehand, ddg gets more of your searches for everything else. This is definitely a win for you and ddg, perhaps even for google if it increases your dependence on queries in general. Also, I don't think ddg is trying to replace google. From your numbers, ddg is getting ~ 30% of your queries without having to implement deep search. ddg doesn't log ip addresses/track you, so they could only probabilistically identify cases where people think ddg would do better but then fall back to google, but it will likely get harder and more computationally intense as they grow.

heyitsnick 15y ago
If x% of searches go direct to google or another source, that is x% of the "1 million a day" where DDG doesn't have the opportunity to show me adverts, which is DDG's primary revenue source I assume. So the figure is relevant. But notwithstanding that I agree with your comment - DDG has won me over and has a strong relationship with me. Re. tracking, it's not just searches that I do that go directly to google; it's the times I go to DDG, am unsatisfied with the results, then tack on "!g" to try it on google. This should provide valuable data on when a user deems results not good enough.

dredmorbius 15y ago

Dittos. For many years I pretty much laughed at Google-search wannabes. Now I really want there to be a credible alternative. I've set DDG as my preferred search. But I'm still !banging to Google at least half the time. Can haz moar betters releventz plz!

epi0Bauqu 15y ago
We would appreciate any specific examples at https://duckduckgo.com/feedback.html https://duckduckgo.com/feedback.html -- it's a great way to improve! But higher level, !g roughly accounted for 1% of queries yesterday, which also includes all the cases where we ran out of results and people clicked on our Try google link.
- heyitsnick 15y ago
  Here's a real example that just occurred. A Search for "jquery select visited anchor" on DDG returns the jquery selectors docs first (okay match) and jquery.com match second (useless). A search on google.com, the first 2 results are SO answers that answer exactly my question. My point isn't specifically you rank SO lower than it should imo (although i do think this is the case) - its in general, for me, you return roots of homepages or brands at hte top when the query is clearly looking for something very specific.
  - epi0Bauqu 15y ago
    I'm not seeing that result set at all. Do you have a region set? I'd appreciate emailing me a screen shot if you don't mind at yegg@duckduckgo.com Btw, we index SO ourselves, e.g. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=nginx+apache https://duckduckgo.com/?q=nginx+apache We just have a high bar to show it, but are working on that piece so it comes up more. It's also full punctuation.
    - heyitsnick 15y ago
      Email sent, but for other readers' reference, shots taken in anon chrome: ddg: http://i.minus.com/iKakLPppwCv14.jpg http://i.minus.com/iKakLPppwCv14.jpg google: http://i.minus.com/iZvY24AxfnHRR.jpg http://i.minus.com/iZvY24AxfnHRR.jpg

tammer 15y ago

I've recently done a double-take on my love for Google. I want to love Duck Duck Go. I really do. I tell all my less tech-savy friends/relatives about it. Personally, though, I can't live without deep search. I'd say about 99.9999% of my searches are in the "brand something something" category, and there's not much point in adding an extra step to every search. Unfortunately for DDG, my less tech-savy friends have had a similar experience. Since they're never going to try (or comprehend) the !bangs, after two or three attempts at a deep search they inevitably say "Well this is nice, but Google gives me what I'm looking for exactly." Me, I was on Scroogle until recently when it's availability started to really suffer. Now, it's all Goosh, all the time!

unicornporn 15y ago
As in goosh.org/ ?
- tammer 15y ago
  is there any other? I'd like to know!

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]