I’ve been using duckduckgo for years now with no issues, but today I opened it and realized there were no longer any search results before scrolling. It was all ads/info cards. So I guess I’m looking for a replacement. Any suggestions?

Related: anyone know if there’s a way in the Adnauseum Firefox extension to hide ads on a specific trusted site? I like their goal of not punishing ads following the do not track standard, but DDG has crossed a threshold and I now want to blacklist them specifically.

37 points

Not doubting you here, but I just tried searching for two very different terms on DDG on two different devices (Windows laptop and Android phone) and two different browsers (Firefox and Brave), and I didn’t really see any ads or dodgy stuff.

The mobile Firefox version had a couple of main links at the top (they don’t look like ads), and some news cards under that. But the links were all relevant. The desktop DDG was super clean, again no ads.

This was without ad blockers enabled too. I also tried it in private mode, and still clean.

What am I missing? Why is my DDG experience so clean compared to yours?

permalink
report
reply
25 points

This was the worst time I’ve seen. Here’s a screenshot. The search term was benaroya hall if you want to try yourself.

permalink
report
parent
reply
14 points

Wow. Yeah that sucks!

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

It really caught me off guard. I had another search later today after I posted this that only had one Ad at the top, so it seems like it depends on the search term. I’m not thrilled this is even possible though 😒

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points
*

I second this. DDG, Searxng and various LLM are my daily drivers depending on the queries. I don’t recognise DDG being bloated with ads like Google. I have adblockers but I put sites like DDG on the whitelist because hey support the good guys.

Is it topical? Regional? Does OP have malware that is transforming the browser document? Is OP searching for niche content and confusing singular domain results for ads? Has DDG shifted owners and doing some tests?

I would like to know more.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

DDG is not any better than bing. If you are willing to give your data to the “good guys” so they can make money with your data, you ultimately failed at protecting your privacy.

permalink
report
parent
reply

I’m partial to ecosia.org myself. Search while helping to plant more trees!

permalink
report
reply
1 point
*

I do wonder how they get the money to plant these trees, hmm…

edit: oh, look at that! Even ecosia started getting into AI. Truly impossible for search engines not to get into AI territory these days, funny right? Even kagi did.

permalink
report
parent
reply
24 points

If you self host, you could try searxng

permalink
report
reply
16 points

Or even just use any public instance found here. Different instances may have different defaults, but under Preferences you can enable/disable whatever search engines you want.

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

I switched to searx.be a couple of days ago and so far I’m quite happy with the results.

permalink
report
parent
reply
22 points

Out of interest, has anyone here been using Kagi? It’s a premium search engine, which means it has reasons and resources to not suck, in theory. Kind of interested in trying it, but not sure how good it actually is.

permalink
report
reply
17 points
*

I’ve been using Kagi for the better part of a year. I find it removes about 2/3 of the time and effort between search and goal. There are a lot of very simple quality of life things that every search should have (and would have if not for user tracking).

Some people have fairly said that paid search is inherently privacy unfriendly. You have to log in to use it. That doesn’t really bother me, and if it doesn’t bother you, it’s great to use a quality search where you are not the product.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

That’s the kicker for me. It’s possible they log your entire search history which is disturbing.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

I looked into it before I started using it like a year ago. They count the number of searches but claim to not hold actual search queries. I don’t have a citation handy (it has been a year…) but even if that’s untrue (which I don’t think it is, but hypothetically) and they were found to be using it to tweak their engine, meh? I search for memes, accounts for art/porn, games/reviews, etc. I’m not searching for my home address or anything of interest or value. “hey, the horny furry searched for more horny furry stuff” is like “water is still wet, more at 10”.

This is a super low-important possibility, imo.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

Try it, they give you 100 free searches.

I’ve been using it for months and really like it. It’s so refreshing to get clean and useful search results.

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

I’ve been using it for a number of months now and have been really happy with it. I think it saves me time and aggravation compared to using Google.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

I do. Just the feature where I block domains and they pop up in the results when I search something is a reason to pay for it for me.

And people voting down those spam sites means that you also won’t get them in your results. 5/5

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

There’s a trial, you get a handful of searches per month for free

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

I think it’s just a flat 100 searches trial, not per month. Of course you could use another burner email if you wanted to game the system but I think it’s worth paying for.

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

I have. It didn’t seem ridiculously priced and the results have included what I want the majority of the time. No complaints so far, and it’s been about six months.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

I’ve been using it for over a year. It makes my life easier, to be honest. I’m on the 5€ plan because I don’t need more than 300 searches per month.

I like how customisable the search results are, the lack of SEO stuff and I’m a big fan of the “small internet” results.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

I’ve been using kagi for months. I love it.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

I tried Kagi and found the results to be significantly less helpful than Google. Searches for local businesses, open source libraries, and Canadian history missed useful sites that Google provided.

I guess I’m an outlier, because other people seem to have a good time with it.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

No, I have the same experience. Especially if you want to search for local stuff in my country. It is like my country (Netherlands) does not exist Kagi.

For general topics it is ok I guess. I do have premium but I am barely using it anymore. I use Qwant.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

I’ve been using Kagi for a while and would not hesitate in recommending it to anyone BUT with the caveat if you want to search for a local business or similar, at least here in the UK, then it’s pretty rubbish… I find Google still reigns at that.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points
*

I couldn’t live without it. Love being able to up/down-rate my results. I’ve been trying to de-google my life but search was always the one thing I couldn’t give up. DuckDuckGo being Bing results just didn’t have the quality. Kagi’s results are S tier. As I understand it, they’re sourced in a privacy friendly way from Google and then they apply your preferences on top of them. Definitely went in skeptical and now I can’t imagine not having Kagi.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

I am somewhat tempted to sign up and give it a shot. DDG is pretty solid for me, but it would be interesting to try a search engine where I’m not the product, it is.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Super impressed so far

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

I use it. I like it and would recommend it.

permalink
report
parent
reply
17 points

I mean, Kagi is just the best. I remember trying it like a year ago and I just forgot to switch back to anything else. It’s that good.

permalink
report
reply
3 points

Yeah, but for those on a budget that subscription is a pain point. So long as you can afford it easy it is good because you are no longer the product, but that will keep allot of people at bay.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

Read about it here, tested it, and was hooked on the first search. It’s magnificent.

permalink
report
parent
reply

Ask Lemmy

!asklemmy@lemmy.world

Create post

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for ‘how do I?’, type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


Community stats

  • 11K

    Monthly active users

  • 3.8K

    Posts

  • 204K

    Comments