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Not because DDG got better, but just because google got worse.

google is still better for site-specific searches, and google scholar still has minimal AI slop

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[-] Silk@lemm.ee 1 points 12 hours ago

I use Kagi, I really like how it's AI answer gives sources for statements.

[-] FRYD@sh.itjust.works 34 points 1 day ago

I’ve been using DDG exclusively for something like 8 years. It works great for regular text search and I use bing for image searches. I really don’t understand the reluctance of people to switch to it. To me, Google has been borderline unusable garbage for a long time.

[-] CarbonBasedNPU@lemm.ee 4 points 16 hours ago

DDG is slow. Like noticeably slower than other search engines. I have been using DDG exclusively for 2 months at this point and it is wild how much faster brave search is not even mentioning google search.

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[-] serendipity@aussie.zone 3 points 18 hours ago

Same here, although I don’t know how long I’ve been on DDG exactly. I never not find what I’m looking for.

[-] toastal@lemmy.ml 5 points 23 hours ago

Cherry on the shit sundae was a couple months ago when Google started to require JavaScript be enabled for search.

[-] yo_scottie_oh@lemmy.ml 4 points 22 hours ago

Okay, so this wasn't just me! I installed NoScript for Chrome on my work laptop as a stop gap for no more ublock origin and thought something was fishy w/ Google's search page.

[-] 0ops@lemm.ee 1 points 17 hours ago

I used it for a few years, realized that I had to use bangs every other search, and reluctantly switched back to Google. But now Google is way worse than it was, so I think I might as well try switching back again, see how it feels now.

[-] venotic@kbin.melroy.org 56 points 1 day ago

Not really. If you focus purely on just searching, yeah DDG is decent. But, I find its maps inferior and trying to find answers to some questions can get tedious. DDG I guess is just for people who want guilt-free searching.

[-] adarza@lemmy.ca 24 points 1 day ago

ddg maps is just a no-frills apple maps.

[-] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 27 points 1 day ago
[-] adarza@lemmy.ca 2 points 19 hours ago

yes, it is. but between it and graphhopper (or osm), it's "enough" for me.

i don't need a feature-filled "app" (my phone is 'dumb'), and the only time i end up on something else like bing or google maps is if a site i need to use embeds and relies upon them.

[-] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 1 points 12 hours ago

my problem with apple maps is how frequently it has something's location completely wrong because osm addresses use the European addressing system everywhere when i don't live in europe

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[-] yogthos@lemmy.ml 7 points 21 hours ago

I find it's actually better at this point because it just gives results without AI summaries and ads, also I find it's just straight up better at actually finding what you're looking for

[-] adarza@lemmy.ca 3 points 19 hours ago

i find ddg sufficient for nearly everything. occasionally i will go to startpage or ecosia or mojeek for a different 'perspective', but that is not very often at all. i also use wolframalpha almost daily for some sort of calculation or conversion.

i haven't used google or bing except by accident when using someone else's browser or device (that is, when i forget to go to duck.com first).

[-] Frenchys_prospecting@aussie.zone 1 points 16 hours ago

Is ddg on mobile just a facade and still uses google?

[-] variouslegumes@reddthat.com 11 points 1 day ago

I just realized the other day that I haven't typed !g in months.

[-] Sam_Bass@lemmy.ml 7 points 22 hours ago

So far its still less bloated

[-] dojan@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago

Google is mostly adverts. Wouldn’t take much to be better than that.

[-] suite403@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago

I finally left Google a month or so ago and its amazing how little I miss it.

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[-] Lyra_Lycan 3 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

76% of their Q2 2024 revenue came from adverts. I'd rather pay with capitalist-consumerist shit on my screen than pay with money, but as everyone knows it's far too invasive rn. Ergo, I use uBlock, sponsorblock and I don't care about cookies.

[-] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

DuckDuckGo AKA Bing is complete dog doo. When you are looking for news it only tries to shove in the Microsoft MSN news page. The algorithm manipulation in favor of Western MSM bias is even heavier than Google. When you search certain terms it refuses to show articles containing those exact terms.

Yeah saying "DDG is as good as Google" means saying that DDG is worthless garbage lol

[-] synicalx@lemm.ee 4 points 1 day ago

+1, it’s hot garbage and I don’t know why anyone would use it. You’re better off trying to randomly guess the URL of the content your looking for because that’s probably more likely to find it.

[-] ceenote@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago

My thought always was that DDG was good to set as my default, and if I'm not happy with the results then it's not a big deal to use Google once in awhile.

[-] PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Just use start page instead for Google results. That’s what I do.

[-] scytale@lemm.ee 8 points 1 day ago

Mullvad has recently made their google search proxy free for everyone. It’s a good alternative to startpage: https://leta.mullvad.net/

[-] PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I like startpage more still. Mullvad’s ui sucks.

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[-] match@pawb.social 15 points 1 day ago

i switched from DDG to ecosia because of Lemmy and i gotta say it's even better

[-] Maeve@kbin.earth 2 points 16 hours ago

Private browsing We protect your data and privacy so you can surf safely

This true?

[-] JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago

Yeah I think I'm headed in this direction. I've also been thinking about one of them self-hostable search engines a lot

[-] JackLSauce@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago

"just as good"? No, I feel it is (and has been for years) vastly superior but I mostly use it to find documentation or Stack Overflow answers so consistent UI and concise summaries are high priority to me. Take that as you will

I don't think anybody can dethrone Google Maps yet but that's another story

[-] JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago

I don't think anybody can dethrone Google Maps

I wonder how the whole "AI is more important than copyright" thing could play into this... Someone could totally program an "AI" map assistant right?

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[-] toastal@lemmy.ml 5 points 23 hours ago

No. DDG still puts less priority in small blogs over Reddit posts. All bigger search engines put way too much stock & rank in corpo social media.

[-] Sickduck@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 1 day ago

DDG does the job. Hopefully, I won't have to switch engines soon.

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Wait 'til you learn that DDG's engine is Bing

[-] nullPointer@programming.dev 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

isn't it just a bing wrapper?

[-] klangcola@reddthat.com 13 points 1 day ago

No and kinda yes. Duckduckgo has its own webcrawler, but also adds in results from other sources including Bing, Yahoo and others.

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Last time I checked, it matched Bing results exactly.

[-] toastal@lemmy.ml 2 points 23 hours ago

Yahoo is Bing too

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[-] slomosapien@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 day ago

100%. I have not used google in about roughly 15 years. DDG has been my daily driver since 2010

[-] TheRealCharlesEames@lemm.ee 8 points 1 day ago

I've had to use !g way too much lately, so no.

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[-] sanderium@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 day ago

I use Startpage and it feels like I always get the results I want even when I don't use perfect prompts. Just recently I got a three month free trial for Kagi and the results were better than google in my opinion, or at least less cluttered with "possibly related things" that are just ads in the end.

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[-] boreal@lemm.ee 4 points 1 day ago

Better usually in my experience. Google is mostly SEO-sludge anyway. Though sometimes when you need something very specific Google is better but that gap has been pretty much closed during 7+ years I’ve used DDG.

[-] MakingWork@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 day ago
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[-] breadguy@kbin.earth 6 points 1 day ago

kagi still owns both of them. but there's also startpage and leta which are google wrappers if you don't want to use Google directly

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this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
282 points (100.0% liked)

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