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I was a paid Kagi user. It’s one of those tools where I have to say, “it doesn’t fit me but you’re doing something good in the world so keep going.” I don’t d

by wenc 2y ago

I was a paid Kagi user. It’s one of those tools where I have to say, “it doesn’t fit me but you’re doing something good in the world so keep going.” I don’t do the kind of searches where Kagi is a lot better than Google (I bet folks here do). On the searches I do want to do, i.e steaming movies, local business and map related, Kagi is not yet strong at. I kept having to !g. So I’m back to Google which I find fits me better. But I’m glad Kagi exists.

wkat4242 2y ago
The strange thing is that kagi gets most of its search results from other providers like brave, bing and I believe even Google. It should be able to find those things. I use SearXNG by the way. Kagi is better but I like the way I can configure SearXNG.
- wenc 2y ago
  Try looking for your a local Thai restaurant in your area. Kagi doesn’t profile you so it doesn’t know where you are, so any local searches involve adding a keyword or doing the search a second time with !g. I just tried it on Kagi and it suggested a Yelp link for restaurants in McKinney TX which is nowhere near where I am. Google uses what it knows about you as context — which arguably many folks here are against— but it does get me the right results in one go.
  - wkat4242 2y ago
    Ah ok that explains a lot. I use a lot of privacy protection when I use any Google features (like running them in a separate Firefox container so it can't see other web activity). So I'm used to specifying that already.
  - freediver 2y ago
    > Google uses what it knows about you as context — which arguably many folks here are against— but it does get me the right results in one go. Kagi does let you opt-in your location to improve searches. So there is a way and the user is in full control.
    - commandar 2y ago
      I just looked and I can't find any option to localize results more specifically than "United States." I'm not finding anything in a KB search either. If the option is there, it has really poor discoverability. I love the service, but poor local results is definitely one of its weak points and basically the only reason I ever fall back to Google anymore.
    - wenc 2y ago
      I’m not sure it exists. You can opt in on Kagi maps but not search.

by wenc 2y ago

wkat4242 2y ago

The strange thing is that kagi gets most of its search results from other providers like brave, bing and I believe even Google. It should be able to find those things. I use SearXNG by the way. Kagi is better but I like the way I can configure SearXNG.

wenc 2y ago
Try looking for your a local Thai restaurant in your area. Kagi doesn’t profile you so it doesn’t know where you are, so any local searches involve adding a keyword or doing the search a second time with !g. I just tried it on Kagi and it suggested a Yelp link for restaurants in McKinney TX which is nowhere near where I am. Google uses what it knows about you as context — which arguably many folks here are against— but it does get me the right results in one go.
- wkat4242 2y ago
  Ah ok that explains a lot. I use a lot of privacy protection when I use any Google features (like running them in a separate Firefox container so it can't see other web activity). So I'm used to specifying that already.
- freediver 2y ago
  > Google uses what it knows about you as context — which arguably many folks here are against— but it does get me the right results in one go. Kagi does let you opt-in your location to improve searches. So there is a way and the user is in full control.
  - commandar 2y ago
    I just looked and I can't find any option to localize results more specifically than "United States." I'm not finding anything in a KB search either. If the option is there, it has really poor discoverability. I love the service, but poor local results is definitely one of its weak points and basically the only reason I ever fall back to Google anymore.
  - wenc 2y ago
    I’m not sure it exists. You can opt in on Kagi maps but not search.