this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
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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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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Nah, the results are still consistently much worse imo (excluding sponsored results from Google), and I use DDG daily

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

That's a low bar, google sucks now

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I feel like its better than google. I switched to DDG a couple years ago. 6 months ago I did a trial run with a self hosted search that only used google as a back end, the results felt like garbage

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I've switched away from DDG after many years of use. I have gone to Ghostery Private search. It seems to be better for my search results with a lot less garbage mixed in.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I do not think so in my experience. I'm a software developer and a lot of my job is searching solutions to problems. Every year or two I'll try DDG because I love the concept but it never works as well for me. Putting the same search query into Google yeilds actual results for me more often than DDG does.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I have the same situation. DDG has a feature where you can write "!g query" and search for "query" on Google. I use that as a fallback whenever DDG fails to yield good results - it's super easy!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Yes, mostly, except that programming related searches have really gone downhill in DDG for me.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

I use QWANT but I have the same feeling tbh. Or maybe Google search has been worsening I'm not too sure..

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

Compared to a few years ago, it’s better. Some websites still aren’t indexed, and even by entering their name exactly, they don’t show. Google doesn’t have this problem.

Brave search is also pretty good

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Good enough for me, although there are times I need to use google.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

I like DDG a lot more, especially because of the bang shortcuts. But I transitioned recently to Qwant. It also has bang shortcuts and is hosted in Europe.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

It’s just as good as 2008 google, which is all I want.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Google is almost unusable for me even with ad block. I've been using DDG for the last 3 or so years now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

It's my primary but Google unfortunately is often a fallback. And Google is tracking the shit out of us these days. Certain obscure searches don't work well on DDG, sad to say.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Naw. I use Kagi (paid) now, and get much better search results.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

no. i switch to using it as my primary search engine every once in a while, just to see how it's doing. i always run into situations where i can't find the thing im looking for. maybe im just the obscure searches man

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Probably so. Haven't used it much but Google has got so much worse. Being filled with adds and irrelevant results that DuckDuckgo probably is better now.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago

I've been using DDG since 2016 and never felt it was worse in terms of "search quality" than Google.

Especially nowadays I hear friends whine near weekly about Google, but it's still somehow "better than DDG".

Honestly people just make excuses not to change what they're use to. Even if what they're used to has changed around them for the worse.

My only real complain I have is I wish 'search by date range' was less finicky use and also worked in the image tab like it does in Google images.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Don't you mean DuckDuckBing ?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I just typed "african mouse" into both bing, and ddg. I got EXACTLY the same results. Which I kind of expected . Same order, everything. However, my understanding is, that DDG obfuscates the user, and doesn't track. This is my hope, and why I use it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

As a general purpose search engine yeah it's just as good. Google has some nice extra features which aren't too important (for example if you search UFC it shows full fight card info and results on the search page).

Where it falls behind is for more "power user " type work. I only use Google at work as it makes finding very specific results with keywords and date ranges on certain sites etc much easier.

Nowadays I use Qwant though to boycott us. It's much slower but still does the job for day to day use.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

It has been for several years now. I rarely use Google now, and when I do, I'm using it out of DuckDuckGo (!g)

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