Hacker News Reader

Comment by maya24 | Hacker News Reader

Stop using Google search. DDG works just as well

I use DDG search most of the time, but I find this to be untrue. DDG is pretty good, but struggles with context a lot more than Google does. For example, when searching for an error in a programming library, DDG is likely to return the library homepage, whereas google is more likely to return the specific github issue where the error is being discussed.

For text it depends [1] but for images I find DDG to range from slightly to significantly better than Google. Also, I have direct access to the image file URL without having to rely on browser extensions.

[1] I wonder if the meme "DDG is not that good" is so prevalent on Hacker News because it sucks for programming stuff.

Yes, Google image searches produce wild results. Far-right groups have had a field day with it.

This used to be true. Regularly I had to use the !g bang to find what I was looking for. Lately, I've realised that I hardly use it anymore and I do results are far worse on Google. Your mileage may vary of course but I don't bother with Google anymore.

Same. I went the DDG route a couple of years ago, and searching tech topics made me constantly do g!. And a few other things. Suddenly, Google's results go so much worse, that the duckduckgo offering just proved to be actually functional by comparison. And I think it actually has improved over the years. It's now my default browser search and I'm comfortable not having to worry about Google capturing every feeling or thought I have when I google something, and storing that for eternity.

Not to mention the awful vendor blogs and stores and secretive marketing clickbait masquerading as a neutral information totally dominating Google's page 1 and 2 of results.

Agreed. I switched to DDG a few weeks ago as a default. I appreciate the privacy, but for some categories (like tech questions) the results are just... not as accurate. For general queries they're comparable. For searching specific issues, Google is more likely to show relevant discussion threads of the exact issue.

Would that this were true, but it's not. Searching for specific technical issues especially shows DDG's weakness.

Outside of searching for specific technical issues, DDG is pretty good. I use DDG for most of my searches and this is the first I've heard of search results being dominated by Pinterest, so it's at least better on that front.

That's problem, DDG works nearly exactly the same (except a bit worse imo). DDG channels a lot of Bing, which virtually clones Google which makes it not much of an alternative at all.

I’ve been using DDG as my default for years and it really fails to provide me helpful results for programming and Linux questions. I know this because I frustratingly have to add !g to queries all the time lately and I’m questioning my choice to default to DDG.

That said, I don’t like being tracked. It’s not clear to me if the quality of results I am seeing are due to Google’s tracking or not. (I suppose I could research this but I’ve not done so.)

It has improved for me to the point I don't use !g anymore. Maybe subconciously I now do queries that fit DDG better. Anyway, I get the answer I want so can now live without Google.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com