5 ms·

Could you give some examples of specific queries (like, tell me exactly what to type into the search bar) where you find Kagi returns better results than Google

Could you give some examples of specific queries (like, tell me exactly what to type into the search bar) where you find Kagi returns better results than Google or DDG? I tried Kagi a couple times and didn't notice a significant difference in result quality, so I'd like to see what people find so nice about it.

_aavaa_ 1y ago
You can blacklist whole domains (or subdomains) as well as upranking or downranking specific sites. This lets you avoid the seo spam (particularly bad for programming sites). For example. Say I want to know more about python’s built in sum() functions. A google search for “Python sum function” produces results on the first page from: - w3school - GeeksforGeeks - real python - programiz - code academy And only after do I get the official python docs. On Kagi I have blacklisted all of those garbage sites and the official docs at the top result.
- coldpie 1y ago
  Thank you. Sounds like the search results are not actually much better on Kagi, but the features around search such as blocking domains is where you find the value. That would explain why I didn't see much of a difference when I tried it out without doing any customization.
  - _aavaa_ 1y ago
    I don't agree with the distinction you're trying to make. Google also tries to customize your results for you, but does not offer you any control (don't know about ddg). I think of it as the same thing with Kagi, expect I have explicit input into the results. Some of these changes are subjective. E.g. I have blocked all of Pinterest since it just clutters my results, but other people explicitly want Pinterest in their results. (not I don't know who would want the seo'd programming sites, but that's a different matter).
- stenius 1y ago
  Here's some stats that kagi publishes on how people are using their blocking and a great place to great started with it as well. https://kagi.com/stats?stat=leaderboard https://kagi.com/stats?stat=leaderboard
- SaberTail 1y ago
  You can search the official python docs on DDG with !python. So if you search for "!python sum", it takes you right there. They have a lot of other "bangs" that work really well, too: https://duckduckgo.com/bangs https://duckduckgo.com/bangs
  - inetknght 1y ago
    Normal users don't want to have to remember magic incantations to not have to sift through malicious "businesses".
    - entuno 1y ago
      Normal users also don't want to have to go through curating their own blacklist of sites to get decent results.
      - inetknght 1y ago
        Sure, but given the shit state that Google is, I argue that normal users would rather have to curate their own blacklist a few times instead of being subjected to (at best) SEO spam or (worse) malicious websites. That's why I use Kagi.
  - ndegruchy 1y ago
    You can do that on Kagi, too. You just don't _need_ to.
- einarfd 1y ago
  I haven't set up blacklist for my kagi account. Searched for "python sum", got a link to the python doc as the first result. So imo. you dont need a blacklist.
- Ferret7446 1y ago
  Is it worth $10 so you don't have to search the Python docs directly? That seems terribly wasteful (monetarily, computationally), when you could use something like devdocs, among dozens of other options.
dingnuts 1y ago
one I like to use to demonstrate is "how to fix a leaking faucet" Google gives you a full page of ads for plumbers Kagi gives you instructional videos from This Old House. It's night and day.
- gcau 1y ago
  I just tried this, and google returned a variety of videos (guides for fixing), and various text/website tutorials (home depot, reddit etc), I had to scroll to the absolute bottom to see an ad for a plumber.
  - coldpie 1y ago
    I had the same experience. I'm located in Minnesota, USA, not currently logged in to Google, and I use an ad blocker. First result was a Home Depot home repair article that looks genuinely useful. Then relevant YouTube videos, Reddit threads, an iFixIt link, a link to the Portland government website. I see zero things I would explicitly call an "ad" on the first page.
28304283409234 1y ago
To me, it is not the results that are the kicker. It is that I no longer have to waste my time filtering out Google customers paying for my attention. Every result in Kagi is there to try to help ME. Not Google. Not their customers. And even though DDG is fine privacy-wise, in this regard they are no better than Google.
- coldpie 1y ago
  > It is that I no longer have to waste my time filtering out Google customers paying for my attention. Can you explain what this means in more detail? (To be clear, I'm not trying to be adversarial, I'm asking for a sales pitch :) )
  - petepete 1y ago
    Google's customers are the companies who pay them to place adverts in search results. The results page includes them and it's not always clear at a glance which results are promoted/paid. Kagi makes this a non-issue.
    - coldpie 1y ago
      I use an ad blocker.
Zambyte 1y ago
> @dh nats ! This brings me directly to https://hub.docker.com/_/nats/ https://hub.docker.com/_/nats/. Like it doesn't even show Kagi. > @hn ! This brings me directly to the front page of HN. > @gh jj ! This brings me to https://github.com/jj-vcs/jj https://github.com/jj-vcs/jj > !guixc how do I install nginx? This brings me to https://kagi.com/assistant/071a7584-d0a3-49fe-abe1-635223085d5d https://kagi.com/assistant/071a7584-d0a3-49fe-abe1-635223085..., which includes an answer relevant to my distro from a generic question. > !p nginx Brings me to https://packages.guix.gnu.org/search/?query=nginx https://packages.guix.gnu.org/search/?query=nginx. The customization is extremely powerful as you can see. Snaps are also often significantly better than bangs, because sites often have bad built in search (!dh particularly sucks. !gh isn't great either imo).

_aavaa_ 1y ago

You can blacklist whole domains (or subdomains) as well as upranking or downranking specific sites. This lets you avoid the seo spam (particularly bad for programming sites). For example. Say I want to know more about python’s built in sum() functions. A google search for “Python sum function” produces results on the first page from: - w3school - GeeksforGeeks - real python - programiz - code academy And only after do I get the official python docs. On Kagi I have blacklisted all of those garbage sites and the official docs at the top result.

coldpie 1y ago
Thank you. Sounds like the search results are not actually much better on Kagi, but the features around search such as blocking domains is where you find the value. That would explain why I didn't see much of a difference when I tried it out without doing any customization.
- _aavaa_ 1y ago
  I don't agree with the distinction you're trying to make. Google also tries to customize your results for you, but does not offer you any control (don't know about ddg). I think of it as the same thing with Kagi, expect I have explicit input into the results. Some of these changes are subjective. E.g. I have blocked all of Pinterest since it just clutters my results, but other people explicitly want Pinterest in their results. (not I don't know who would want the seo'd programming sites, but that's a different matter).
stenius 1y ago
Here's some stats that kagi publishes on how people are using their blocking and a great place to great started with it as well. https://kagi.com/stats?stat=leaderboard https://kagi.com/stats?stat=leaderboard
SaberTail 1y ago
You can search the official python docs on DDG with !python. So if you search for "!python sum", it takes you right there. They have a lot of other "bangs" that work really well, too: https://duckduckgo.com/bangs https://duckduckgo.com/bangs
- inetknght 1y ago
  Normal users don't want to have to remember magic incantations to not have to sift through malicious "businesses".
  - entuno 1y ago
    Normal users also don't want to have to go through curating their own blacklist of sites to get decent results.
    - inetknght 1y ago
      Sure, but given the shit state that Google is, I argue that normal users would rather have to curate their own blacklist a few times instead of being subjected to (at best) SEO spam or (worse) malicious websites. That's why I use Kagi.
- ndegruchy 1y ago
  You can do that on Kagi, too. You just don't _need_ to.
einarfd 1y ago
I haven't set up blacklist for my kagi account. Searched for "python sum", got a link to the python doc as the first result. So imo. you dont need a blacklist.
Ferret7446 1y ago
Is it worth $10 so you don't have to search the Python docs directly? That seems terribly wasteful (monetarily, computationally), when you could use something like devdocs, among dozens of other options.

dingnuts 1y ago

one I like to use to demonstrate is "how to fix a leaking faucet" Google gives you a full page of ads for plumbers Kagi gives you instructional videos from This Old House. It's night and day.

gcau 1y ago
I just tried this, and google returned a variety of videos (guides for fixing), and various text/website tutorials (home depot, reddit etc), I had to scroll to the absolute bottom to see an ad for a plumber.
- coldpie 1y ago
  I had the same experience. I'm located in Minnesota, USA, not currently logged in to Google, and I use an ad blocker. First result was a Home Depot home repair article that looks genuinely useful. Then relevant YouTube videos, Reddit threads, an iFixIt link, a link to the Portland government website. I see zero things I would explicitly call an "ad" on the first page.

28304283409234 1y ago

To me, it is not the results that are the kicker. It is that I no longer have to waste my time filtering out Google customers paying for my attention. Every result in Kagi is there to try to help ME. Not Google. Not their customers. And even though DDG is fine privacy-wise, in this regard they are no better than Google.

coldpie 1y ago
> It is that I no longer have to waste my time filtering out Google customers paying for my attention. Can you explain what this means in more detail? (To be clear, I'm not trying to be adversarial, I'm asking for a sales pitch :) )
- petepete 1y ago
  Google's customers are the companies who pay them to place adverts in search results. The results page includes them and it's not always clear at a glance which results are promoted/paid. Kagi makes this a non-issue.
  - coldpie 1y ago
    I use an ad blocker.

Zambyte 1y ago

> @dh nats ! This brings me directly to https://hub.docker.com/_/nats/ https://hub.docker.com/_/nats/. Like it doesn't even show Kagi. > @hn ! This brings me directly to the front page of HN. > @gh jj ! This brings me to https://github.com/jj-vcs/jj https://github.com/jj-vcs/jj > !guixc how do I install nginx? This brings me to https://kagi.com/assistant/071a7584-d0a3-49fe-abe1-635223085d5d https://kagi.com/assistant/071a7584-d0a3-49fe-abe1-635223085..., which includes an answer relevant to my distro from a generic question. > !p nginx Brings me to https://packages.guix.gnu.org/search/?query=nginx https://packages.guix.gnu.org/search/?query=nginx. The customization is extremely powerful as you can see. Snaps are also often significantly better than bangs, because sites often have bad built in search (!dh particularly sucks. !gh isn't great either imo).