Someone recently posted a hot tip about adding "before:2023" to Google web searches and I forget who it was but wow what a huge difference it makes. So thank you to whoever that was. It gets rid of so much AI-generated SEO crap.
I really wanted to like DDG, but its results returned are so horribly unusable, I had to give up.
I’m usually searching for something obscure, but add in general terms for general refinement. DDG will ignore my obscure term (the thing I’m actually looking for) and give me pages of results of the general terms. Using special operators doesn’t help. Whereas Google will give me at least a few relevant results using the same search terms.
Yeah I gave duck duck go another shot the other day and it was FAR and away worse than google. Considering how bad Google has been lately I was impressed (and disappointed) by how much worse DDG was.
I get the same pattern of ignoring obscure terms in both Bing and Google. Bings results include some that seem to assume I made a typo and Google includes a some sites that are just alternates that are the equivalent of ads.
I remember five or so years ago when both could at least return some relevant results anytime I used more than a few words.
I’ve been digging Kagi. It does cost money, but it’s a small price to pay for the return of my sanity. I was constantly frustrated by Google results a hundred times per day before I switched to Kagi.
Yeah I don’t know why DuckDuckGo keeps getting recommended as much as it does.
I couldn’t find on Google, the answer to a simple question the other day. All I wanted to know was the precooked weight of a particular fast food restaurant’s patty.
I made it to page 3 of the Google results, wading through page after page of promotional content, news releases, and sponsored “news-style” articles that were thinly veiled ads.
Decided to visit duck duck go, and was greeted with search results that were even worse than Google.
I realize it’s only one example, but to me it was an example of a search so specific, its egregious that the search engines simply refuse to return a page with the answer.
I just tested it out by typing in “Sonic the hedgehog fanart”. For once, I was able to get some decent images without being bombarded by uncanny valley ai-generated images of Sonic wearing Rouge’s outfit or poorly-drawn inflation art. So it seems to be off to a good start.
DDG for me was always a matter of exchanging a bit of convenience for a bit of freedom. The results are usually a bit poorer (or extremely poorer if websearching in Italian or Portuguese), but at least it isn’t vulturing my data.
You can improve your google search results by using DuckDuckGo instead.
To be honest it’s still a crapshoot of SEO bs.
I really wanted to like DDG, but its results returned are so horribly unusable, I had to give up.
I’m usually searching for something obscure, but add in general terms for general refinement. DDG will ignore my obscure term (the thing I’m actually looking for) and give me pages of results of the general terms. Using special operators doesn’t help. Whereas Google will give me at least a few relevant results using the same search terms.
Yeah I gave duck duck go another shot the other day and it was FAR and away worse than google. Considering how bad Google has been lately I was impressed (and disappointed) by how much worse DDG was.
I get the same pattern of ignoring obscure terms in both Bing and Google. Bings results include some that seem to assume I made a typo and Google includes a some sites that are just alternates that are the equivalent of ads.
I remember five or so years ago when both could at least return some relevant results anytime I used more than a few words.
I’ve been digging Kagi. It does cost money, but it’s a small price to pay for the return of my sanity. I was constantly frustrated by Google results a hundred times per day before I switched to Kagi.
Yeah I don’t know why DuckDuckGo keeps getting recommended as much as it does.
I couldn’t find on Google, the answer to a simple question the other day. All I wanted to know was the precooked weight of a particular fast food restaurant’s patty.
I made it to page 3 of the Google results, wading through page after page of promotional content, news releases, and sponsored “news-style” articles that were thinly veiled ads.
Decided to visit duck duck go, and was greeted with search results that were even worse than Google.
I realize it’s only one example, but to me it was an example of a search so specific, its egregious that the search engines simply refuse to return a page with the answer.
It go so much worse lately it’s on par with Google. I’m out of search engines tbf
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Same
I just tested it out by typing in “Sonic the hedgehog fanart”. For once, I was able to get some decent images without being bombarded by uncanny valley ai-generated images of Sonic wearing Rouge’s outfit or poorly-drawn inflation art. So it seems to be off to a good start.
Trying Searx currently.
Didn’t Searx lose support and maintenance?
Do tell.
I am currently testing the fork SearxNG, which still has development this week.
Let me know any concerns about SearxNG. Seems to be solid so far.
Here is the about page.
OK wasn’t my imagination then.
Nah, DDG is arguably worse than Google now with their search results - I just ended up going back to Google after a couple of years of using DDG.
Didnt go to google but I hate ddg now
Bing it is then
I thought ddg used bing.
Gopher it is then!
It isnt the bing part of ddg it is themselves.
They have started tailoring results locally no matter your settings.
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DDG for me was always a matter of exchanging a bit of convenience for a bit of freedom. The results are usually a bit poorer (or extremely poorer if websearching in Italian or Portuguese), but at least it isn’t vulturing my data.
Its really not much better
Which is basically Bing.
Fuck ddg, turning into wht they sought to destroy
No. DDG sux.
Tried, kept returning to Google for “real” searches
s/DuckDuckGo/Kagi/
No.
Especially with non-English stuff. Let’s be realistic here