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] 3 points 1 hour 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] 5 points 5 hours ago

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] 3 points 6 hours 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] 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours 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] 1 points 6 hours ago

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

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 hours 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] 8 points 13 hours ago

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

[–] [email protected] 5 points 12 hours ago

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

[–] [email protected] 6 points 13 hours ago

Yes, I switched back in 2023 and noticed it was already better than google.

All major search engines feel like they're either filled with AI slop results, or just only returning major corporations' sites anymore, though. DDG just falls into the latter, while Google is mostly the former.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 12 hours 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] 11 points 16 hours 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] 10 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Don't you mean DuckDuckBing ?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 12 hours 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] 4 points 14 hours ago

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

[–] [email protected] 20 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

ive been using it consistently for the past few years. it works well for me, but sometimes ill go to other engines just to see what they come up with, or when results are lacking. sometimes they are better, sometimes they are worse.

meaning ddg is probably good enough nowadays, at least for me.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

You probably already know this, but you can use search "bangs" to search other websites from ddg.

For example, to search google, you would put !g or !google at the start of your search.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

i do! it transformed my address bar, i sometimes use other engines through ddg now. its the main reason its my search provider.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 13 hours 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 16 hours 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] 1 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours 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] 2 points 16 hours 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] 3 points 18 hours 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] 10 points 1 day ago (19 children)

You seriously can't type whatever dae means?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I’ve been online for almost thirty years and have never - knowingly - seen β€œdae” as an abbreviation.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

I don't believe you. DAE has been an extremely common abbreviation for well over a decade at least.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

I didn't say you lied, just saying that there's no way you've been on the internet for 30 years and have never seen DAE anywhere before now.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

DAE is a fairly common acronym on online forums, often used in titles such as these. You could have used Google (or DuckDuckGo) to learn its meaning 😊

It's simply "does anyone else."

[–] [email protected] 6 points 23 hours ago

Never saw that abbreviation before, but my assumption is it's "does anyone else" since I can't think of anything else that'd make sense in this context

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 18 hours 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)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 15 hours ago

No. I was using big for the rewards points for a long time, the results were fine. I switched to kagi for ~6 months and it was good too. Since it's a little expensive I switched to DDG to see if I noticed a difference, it's been a little worse in comparison.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 16 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 21 hours ago

I'd say the same. Google dorks work much better than DDG's filters for site-specific stuff, and generally for things like "search term" but for general searches DDG seems pretty similar.

The only things I've also had worse performance from DDG on compared to Google (in very minimal ways) has been:

  • Highly specific searches (e.g. searching for a diagram of the dimensions of common connector types, DDG shows side-by-sides of connectors, Google does that but also with more diagrams that have dimensions in them)
  • Context but not keyword based searches (e.g. "thing that has x y and z characteristics" returns more relevant results in Google than DDG, very marginally)

And of course, there's always the !s bang to run a search through Startpage (which uses Google) if I'm not getting enough detail.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

Definitely not; DDG has always been bad. However, as others have pointed out, Google is getting worse and every day. That said, it's still better than DDG, which isn't saying much.

There are no good search engines anymore. I got tired of having to add site:reddit.com to all or my searches to get actual answers, so now I've resorted to using AI and pretending that it isn't just making up half the shit it spews. Perplexity is a half decent replacement for a search engine; it's more accurate than most and it cites its sources:

https://lemmy.world/post/26764870

[–] [email protected] 4 points 20 hours ago

Have you tried Kagi? They have their problems, but I think it's better than Google.

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