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DuckDuckGo Hits 14M Searches in a Single Day

searchenginejournal.com

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Re: DuckDuckGo Hits 14M Searches in a Single Day

#41

Post by ximeng »

AdamSC1 wrote: post #14
ximeng wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has a list of scheduled flights when you put in two airport codes which is useful, doesn't look like DDG does the same.

At DuckDuckGo we've got open-source Instant Answers that currently pull in information from over 1100 sources: ( https://duck.co/ia ) If you know of a good data source for scheduled flights you can easily contribute an Instant Answer, or leave the source as a suggestion for our community!

Sorry I don't know a source... actually I don't think I've seen this on any other sites. Just one of those small things that keeps me with Google.

Re: DuckDuckGo Hits 14M Searches in a Single Day

#42

Post by ximeng »

AdamSC1 wrote: post #34
gingerlime wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure how this might affect privacy, or maybe you're doing it already, but couldn't you guys sample every time someone runs a search and then the same search with !g ?

Hi Gingerlime, Thanks for the suggestion. Part of the reason we don't do this is the returned search results on Google are Google's commercial property. To use them in such a capacity would require us to reach a commercial agreement with them. These agreements come with stipulations that we don't feel represent the privacy interests of our users, so we don't pursue such agreements. The other reason, is because of the…

You could still identify searches where there's room for improvement even without comparing with Google results.

Re: DuckDuckGo Hits 14M Searches in a Single Day

#43

Post by dchuk »

muninn_ wrote: post #37
themihai wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you consider changing the domain name?

This is the biggest turn off for me for the service. I use it, because I like it, but I really don't like the name.

If you use it, and like it, why does the name matter anymore? Is it an embarrassment thing?

Re: DuckDuckGo Hits 14M Searches in a Single Day

#44

Post by tfigment »

ximeng wrote: post #42
AdamSC1 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi Gingerlime, Thanks for the suggestion. Part of the reason we don't do this is the returned search results on Google are Google's commercial property. To use them in such a capacity would require us to reach a commercial agreement with them. These agreements come with stipulations that we don't feel represent the privacy interests of our users, so we don't pursue such agreements. The other reason, is because of the…

You could still identify searches where there's room for improvement even without comparing with Google results.

I may be wrong but the reason is again privacy (and probably cost). If they tracked your queries and tied them back to you for future then they need to store your information or enough to tie to you and what you clicked on and the history to improve things. These all become things that they can be subpoenaed for which is anti-privacy.

Don't believe for a second that governments are not already banging at the door for access. The only ways to combat is either hosting in neutral offshore datacenter and incorporating there and living there is to not collect "useful" information in the first place on users. I think they went for the latter.

Re: DuckDuckGo Hits 14M Searches in a Single Day

#45

Post by burger_moon »

philfrasty wrote: post #3

The key for switching to DuckDuckGo for me was to set it as the default searchengine / startpage on all browsers. While the relevance of search results is slightly (noticable) worse than Google, I think the tradeoff between privacy VS result-quality is worth it. Thanks for making such a great product!

Setting it to default was what also got me using it daily. I've known about it for a long time but never used it much simply because when I open a new tab I want to search from there.

I'd say I'm happy with the search results I get and never find myself going to google unless I need a map. I also really like that they adopted the quick results if you hit something common and get a excerpt which usually has my answer in it right at the top of the search results.

Re: DuckDuckGo Hits 14M Searches in a Single Day

#47

Post by pmoriarty »

AdamSC1 wrote: post #4
philfrasty wrote: post #3

The key for switching to DuckDuckGo for me was to set it as the default searchengine / startpage on all browsers. While the relevance of search results is slightly (noticable) worse than Google, I think the tradeoff between privacy VS result-quality is worth it. Thanks for making such a great product!

Hey Phil, DuckDuckGo employee here - Be sure to use the 'feedback' button that you find on the search results page whenever you feel a search isn't up to standards. Our team has been working hard at increasing relevancy, but the best changes come when users let us know what they need. Since we don't filter bubble results ( https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_b... ) results certainly feel differ…

I've had a lot of problems with literal searches on DDG over the years. That is, searches containing search terms in double quotes, like this: "my search terms".

DDG is committed to returning literal search results for the exact query that the user typed within double quotes, right? Sometimes I wonder if DDG is going the route of other search engines and trying to return "relevant" results instead of only results containing the exact search term the user asked for within double quotes.

Could you make clear exactly what DDG's policy is on exact search terms within double quotes? Does DDG honor such requests?

Re: DuckDuckGo Hits 14M Searches in a Single Day

#48

Post by tyingq »

ximeng wrote: post #40
tyingq wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google paid $700m to get that functionality though.

This is a significant subset of what ITA does though - just a list of what flights go on each day of the week and at what time. I expect that can be built for significantly less than 700 million, certainly among the popular airports that most people search for. I suspect they might have had it before the ITA purchase as well but not 100% sure. The Google flights search with pricing and custom dates and routes came af…

It's basically QPX. Not just flights and times, but prices as well. It is the most significant part of ITA.

Flights, times, and fares is deceptively hard to get right. There's a reason there are only a few providers.

Edit: Ahh. If you're saying DDG could get by with just flights and times, and no fares, I see what you mean. That seems to be reflected in the pricing for the FlightStats product vs Google's flight/times/fares API pricing, yes. Parity with Google search requires fares though.

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