Duck Duck Go VS Google

I stumbled upon a search engine comparison yesterday in which Duck Duck Go was the #1 choice. I would have been surprised that Google wasn't on top, was it not for the ample fact that this specific list was there to provide alternatives to Google. Obviously nothing really compares to Google. Just look at the ginormous house that holds their servers and you'll know they have no Earthly competition. Why would you even want another search engine than Google? probably the only reason you'll find is privacy concerns.

If you use a Google services, chances are your account is coupled together with your search results. They're stored you know, together with other account info, and even if you chose to not have it stored it will be stored together with your IP. If Google gets hacked or decides to do the unethical and sell user search information (which is valuable stuff), then maybe someone starts seeing search engine history you don't want to be seen. Surfing incognito won't change a thing, it's the search engine used that holds all the power. Duck Duck Go pride themselves in not storing user search information, so I stuck them on my startpage and will be giving them a test run this week.

So far results are so-so. Sometimes after I search for something and the results I want aren't in the list I go to Google anyway to find what I'm looking for. For the most part, Google does provide much more relevant results. On the other hand, Duck Duck Go's 'I'm feeling ducky' option is one I wouldn't want to live without. In terms of appearance, Duck Duck Go has managed to simplify things even more than Google, and the search results are continually fetched as you browse through them. Normally I find this feature annoying, but it seems to be annoying only in blogs and other forms of content you actually want to read or browse through. When you read a blog, moving to the next page feels like an accomplishment. You've read the first page. There should be some kind of divider there. When searching you want to find the information you are looking for quickly. It doesn't matter if the results go on forever. When you find the link(s) you want, you click them, and that's all. Duck Duck Go have much less clutter on the result pages too. I didn't think I'd think this way, but Google seem to be losing a bit of their former simplicity with all the new features (image previews, sub-pages, baked-in ads) that they keep introducing.

If you're really concerned about your privacy, take a look at Ixquick. It's a good alternative. For now I'm feeling ducky, I'll let you know if they win me over. ;)