For example if I search for something super simple like:
"what is another word for happy"
Google lists synonyms at the top of the page from Oxford.
If I do the same exact search on DDG
I just get the definition of happy and no synonyms.
Today, I would bet that the majority of searches aren't to find websites but to find answers to questions.
DDG sucks at answering questions.
Actually even with "what is another word for happy", the first result is a wordhippo synonyms page.
Though I agree that question based queries are probably more popular these days, and DDG isn't handling them as well. I imagine this doesn't bother the tech / privacy crowd too much.
The google result shows more antonyms than the DDG one, but the DDG result has a click through to rhymes and sounds-like words.
So, it is a draw in my book. I don’t try to ask english language questions to search engines though (and find it uniformly produces worse results than listing keywords, but YMMV).
Based on autocomplete suggestions, it looks like google auto rewrites your query to mine.
Arguably, it would be good to be able to search for pages containing phrases like the one you typed, instead of just ignoring user intent for people that have used search engines before.
shrug
This shows Google is way better at understanding what the user wants when searching.
"what is another word for happy" "happy synonyms", and "happy synonym" all give the user what they want right away on Google doesn't matter how you search it.
With DDG it does matter how you search it.
Another example is another simple query like "florida capital". Google in big letters tell your what the capital of Florida. It shows you a map of the city that you can click and shows basic information on the city.
DDG gives you information on the capitol building and the first link is too the Florida Capital Bank website.
Why would I ever use DDG over Google? Other than privacy which I don't think is that big of an issue as people make it out too be on Google.
Because that, amusingly, gives me an info box with the answer. Either way, the Wikipedia page for Tallahassee is the third link on the page.
It is amusing that DDG seems to be assuming I spelled "capitol" wrong, and pushing the correct results down as a result. I know the difference.