I've never considered switching to DDG but I'm starting to seriously consider it. The thing that is pushing me over the edge is the latest Google search results display change making everything look like an advertisement. Honestly, it's just super confusing to me and I can't get used to it. Here I come DDG.
DuckDuckGo Traffic
131–140 of 251 posts
Re: DuckDuckGo Traffic
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because their business model is built on privacy and not necessarily search tech. See my previous comment on this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22078338 In many ways they are more like a VPN company — a proxy for hire. If they want to expand, a good way would be to acquire Keybase or maybe something like https://bloom.sh and continue exploiting the inferior Google alternatives market.
A business model implies making some sort of profit. How are they funding themselves currently?
Contextual ads that don't spy on you. https://help.duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/company/ad...
Re: DuckDuckGo Traffic
#133I've been using DDG for a few years and I find it superior to google.
I used to often use the !g bang to google a result if I didn't find what I was after, but over time the results on DDG and google have ended up roughly on par. And now I could never go back to using a search engine that lacks a bang-like interface.
I also like that my results aren't region specific unless I actually ask for a region specific result set. I had a lot of issues using google because it was constantly finding local things when I'm looking for something more global.
The way I see it is DDG doesn't assume to know best and gives you the tools to find the answer you're seeking. Google thinks they know best and if you're not after their "happy path" you won't be able to find what you're looking for no matter what. Look at how much they degraded the ability of things like quotes and pluses to affect the search.
It's awesome to see that DDG is continuing to grow. They're an awesome example of a product carving a niche against giants in a competitive field and it's inspirational to see.
Re: DuckDuckGo Traffic
#134Hell yeah, this is really good thing to see! I've been 100% DDG for ~6 months now and almost never have to use !g anymore. Part of the problem was getting over the anxiety of wanting to double check with Google every time I use the service. 99% of the time I use !g I get the same results as what I got from DDG anyway. Plus having the dark theme saves my eyes and battery.
A dark theme only saves battery on an OLED or CRT screen. LCD screens (i.e. most) use slightly more energy displaying black than white. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-b...
LCD panels can be active dark or active light depending on how the polarizer is oriented and the specific display technology used, so it is not useful to blanket claim they slightly go either way, it varies. The linked article only took two samples (probably both TN panels which are generally active black) with unknown error margins, i.e. it is not a scientific study of how much power LCDs use in general.
Let's just say there is no significant difference between white and black for LCDs in general.
Re: DuckDuckGo Traffic
#135I've been using DDG for a few years and I find it superior to google. I used to often use the !g bang to google a result if I didn't find what I was after, but over time the results on DDG and google have ended up roughly on par. And now I could never go back to using a search engine that lacks a bang-like interface. I also like that my results aren't region specific unless I actually ask for a region specific result…
I switched a few years ago, and as a Scandinavian user it's good, but not superior to Google.
It struggles a lot with Scandinavian languages being similar enough that search results will often default to another country, i.e. if searching in Danish you will get Norwegian results.
For anything news or tech related, i only use DDG, but for local queries, shopping etc, i sadly still default to using !g.
Re: DuckDuckGo Traffic
#136DDG web search has come a long way and I think I am now finally able to use it exclusively.
I just wish it did not use Apple Maps. I hadn't used it since it was launched, I thought it might have improved a bit, but no. A quick browse around Sydney shows so many mistakes. It doesn't even list Katoomba as a town, mislabels it "Blue Mountains" instead (which is the name of the government area/council).
I am not sure how they manage to get away with having maps that are simply wrong (the park next to where I live is mislabeled; instead a random piece of grass around 3 blocks south gets the park name). OpenStreetMap might not have fancy features, but at least it's accurate most of the time.
Re: DuckDuckGo Traffic
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's why DDG's results have been getting better, since it's Bing underneath.
This is an oft repeated misconception, their results come from multiple sources. (ddg user since ~2013, and there were times when they did heavily favor yandex or bing usually, but these days the sources are much more varied, and they also have their own crawler called duckbot I think)
https://help.duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/so...
Sounds to me that the 400 sources and their own crawler are used for Instant Answers, while all their "traditional links" come from Bing and Verizon.
Re: DuckDuckGo Traffic
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
The explanation is fluff and has no meaning if they don't give which percentage of queries is answered by which source. e.g. it is probably all bing for any non trivial query. To me, it seems they just want to create an illusion that it is more than a glorified proxy / meta search engine.
I doubt this because DDG usually gives me very different results from ecosia, an actual Bing proxy.
They probably do a different ranking on the bing index, not directly proxying. If you try non trivial searches, you can see that ddg does not have a different result than bing, only order and representation differs.
Re: DuckDuckGo Traffic
#139Any chance that DDG will not turn into Google if/when they grow too much?
I still prefer others causes, such as Ecosia.org or www.lilo.org ;-) DDG is just about money and they will turn as a Google next.
Re: DuckDuckGo Traffic
#140Does DDG also have stats for how much they spend on social media marketing aka hype stories on Hacker News?