TL;RD: The Internet search engine Duckduckgo has been gaining a lot of momentum lately due to the resentment that many people are starting to feel towards Google. DDG (DuckDuckGo) does not offer advertisements nor does it overpower cookies, however, it also has its cons as the few results it offers compared to the giant Google.
Other services that might interest you: Internxt (decentralised cloud storage), Posteo (independent e-mail service) or OpenStreetMap (cooperative world map)
Before we dive into its strengths and weaknesses, we need to briefly define DuckDuckGo as the alternative search engine to Google.
People are becoming aware of all the information they extract from us to make those multi-million dollar profits. This is why DDG is increasingly gaining ground on Google’s monopoly, reaching more than 1,000M searches per month.
✔️ DUCK’S GOOD POINTS
The main advantage of DuckDuckGo is that the results you seek will be unbiased, i.e. anything you look for will never be influenced. This is important because, if you are looking for information on politics, surveys, polls… the results you get will be mixing various points of view, making both the search engine and our opinion more objective. Google does not report everything, it always positions itself to the highest bidder, as Google’s business model is based on making money by selling our information to companies.
What does Google do with us? Yes, with ads. With DDG this will no longer be the case and the results will be free of ads. Let’s try an example, searching for “Popads” in both search engines. We find that in Google, the first 4 entries are ads (SEM), while in DDG everything is organic (SEO)
GOOGLE:
DuckDuckGo:
Besides, who isn’t tired of hitting the “accept cookies” button? DuckDuckGo does us the favour and directly, it does not have cookies, so no one will be able to trace your Internet path, its main advantage.
Finally, DuckDuckGo can help us search for information from other countries much more conveniently than with Google. We don’t need to use a VPN from another country, nor do we need to change the search settings, just click on the button that appears on the first screen. Perfect for seeing what’s going on in the world without any comparisons.
❌ DUCK’S POINTS TO IMPROVE:
However, it’s not all gold that glitters, and that’s because DuckDuckGo now has to change several points that make people, even if they try it and are happy with the idea, not keep using it and go back to Google.
First of all, DuckDuckGo is totally geared towards American users, as the answers obtained from searches are very much focused on America, even though it includes a location in Spain. Perhaps this is due to the fact that DDG’s headquarters are in the United States. This leads to another problem: the vigilance of the US Government.
As far as this surveillance is concerned, we have to point out that the US Government does not have a good reputation for respecting users’ rights, so by having the headquarters in the US, the government can perfectly well interfere with DuckDuckGo and analyse the minimum that this search engine tracks.
Likewise, when we enter Google and search for “DuckDuckGo” we are shown around 12M results, which we can access without any problem. However, in the search engine we are analysing, we only have 3 pages with a total of 29 “DuckDuckGo” results. So, if you’re looking for extensive information, perhaps DuckDuckGo isn’t your search engine yet.
Finally, it’s worth noting that the image search isn’t great either, although the first results are probably what you’re looking for. When you go down a little, they already start to mix up optimal results with similar images. On Google you have pages and pages of what you are specifically looking for.
➕ OTHER PRIVATE SERVICES
INTERNXT: Best Decentralized Cloud Storage that provides you privacy for your documents and photos. They offer 2GB free forever, but if you want more, their prices are unbeatable.
POSTEO: One of the best options to have a more private e-mail. Posteo is an independent investor service that offers email, calendar and address book without any ads in between. It does not offer cloud storage, but you already have Internxt for that.
OPENSTREETMAP: Like Google Maps but the maps are created using geographic information collected by mobile GPS devices, orthophotographs and other free sources. Good option to start eliminating Google from your life.
In conclusion, DuckDuckGo is a very interesting option for taking care of your privacy on the Internet, although it has some flaws, perhaps over the years it will be seriously imposed on Google. In the meantime, in order to start “detoxifying” yourself from Google, I recommend these other apps (Internxt, OpenStreetMaps and Posteo)
