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Google Alternatives

justprivacy.org

131–140 of 247 posts

Re: Google Alternatives

#131

I've tried really hard to not use google for search. But DDG is bad. I have it set as my default search. I find myself either: 1) trying duck duck go and then immediately re-searching in google to actually get relevant answers. 2) skipping the search bar and going immediately to google when I know DDG just isn't going to work. Feels like back in the olden days when you had to try Altavista, Lycos and Yahoo to find wh…

I got better results once i set the location to the country I live in

This thing used to work until maybe half a year ago.

Before, I was getting proper localized results. Even searching in Japan with English keywords gave me Japanese results.

Nowadays when I search even for simple things it does not work. If I look for "dominos pizza" in Japan, I get:

dominos.com

allmenuprice.com

dominosaruba.com

dominospanama.com

dominos.ca

dominos.com.au

dominos.co.in

dominos.co.nz

...

And it goes on and on with multiples pages, but I have to go to Google to actually get dominos.jp

Re: Google Alternatives

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My problem with bing, and I could be wrong for it, is I’m not looking to replace one data mining company with another. I’d much rather give a smaller, up and coming, company my searches.

Oh, I'm not thrilled to have Microsoft track me. Google disturbs me much more, though, mainly because their footprint is larger (Youtube, Gmail, etc). Also, I don't live on Windows, which limits the amount of my data MS can get its hands on.

And with a pi-hole, you can easily block all windows telemetry domains. Which is about half of the requests on the DNS at our house...

Re: Google Alternatives

#133
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Best" is a subjective measure. For a lot of people being tracked all around the internet is a non-starter. I would also argue that a lot of Google products have stagnated and are not the best on offer anymore. Hey and Protonmail for mail, Notion for docs/keep, and Sync for file syncing come to mind, but of course that's just me :)

Not all Google products are best in class, but search and maps definitely are, along with a handful of others. Keep wouldn't make that list.

As the parent poster states, it’s subjective. If your criteria is privacy then Google Maps and search are definitely not best in class.

Re: Google Alternatives

#134
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After using DDG for years, I sometimes try Google when DDG does not seem to deliver. Every time I am disgusted by the sheer amount of crap it shows me. Videos, shopping, news etc. I'll take DDGs clean result list over that any time! (And usually, Google has the same results as DDG anyway)

I made the exact same experience. Sometimes when I can't get satisfying results I try to use google, but in most cases the results are even worse. Googles search results just don't make any sense to me by now. There is one feature that google has which I can't find a good alternative for: Reverse search of images. Hands down, that's a good one, Google.

Yandex has it https://yandex.ru/images/touch/

Re: Google Alternatives

#135

I've tried really hard to not use google for search. But DDG is bad. I have it set as my default search. I find myself either: 1) trying duck duck go and then immediately re-searching in google to actually get relevant answers. 2) skipping the search bar and going immediately to google when I know DDG just isn't going to work. Feels like back in the olden days when you had to try Altavista, Lycos and Yahoo to find wh…

We've done this song and dance 1000 times: Someone says "DDG is bad" or "DDG is good" and all of the replies are basically "No, DDG is ". Let's try something new: Let's give examples. I'll go first: Let's say I have a nebulous recollection that there is a wifi module with "NRF" in the model number. If I search for `nrf wifi` on both Google and DDG, which do you think provides better results? Let's look at the top URL…

Here is an interesting one: search for 'reddit conspiracy' on DDG and Google.

DDG: /r/conspiracy at the top of the list - first result

Google: nowhere to be seen

Makes me wonder what else they are not showing.

Re: Google Alternatives

#136
post #129

This websites uses Google for fonts, static content and analytics https://imgur.com/a/BUDxbWY Don't trust them

I can't believe when sites are doing this. Dogfooding, or leading by example, is the bare minimum I expect, when someone is trying to show an alternative or a moral highground.

Re: Google Alternatives

#137

I've tried really hard to not use google for search. But DDG is bad. I have it set as my default search. I find myself either: 1) trying duck duck go and then immediately re-searching in google to actually get relevant answers. 2) skipping the search bar and going immediately to google when I know DDG just isn't going to work. Feels like back in the olden days when you had to try Altavista, Lycos and Yahoo to find wh…

Do you (or anyone else who finds Google significantly better than DDG) search Google as a logged-in user, and is perhaps this the reason you find their results to be better?

Re: Google Alternatives

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've done this song and dance 1000 times: Someone says "DDG is bad" or "DDG is good" and all of the replies are basically "No, DDG is ". Let's try something new: Let's give examples. I'll go first: Let's say I have a nebulous recollection that there is a wifi module with "NRF" in the model number. If I search for `nrf wifi` on both Google and DDG, which do you think provides better results? Let's look at the top URL…

Here is an interesting one: search for 'reddit conspiracy' on DDG and Google. DDG: /r/conspiracy at the top of the list - first result Google: nowhere to be seen Makes me wonder what else they are not showing.

Maybe it's just a joke by Google? Showing a reddit conspiracy ( no results for /r/conspiracy ) if somebody searchs for 'reddit conspiracy'.
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