In the last couple of months I have noticed an increasing trend of supplying me search results that are completely unrelated to the current query and tie back to my location or previous searches. I can say this with a high degree of certainty this is without a doubt beyond the 100th instance this has happened.
My browser is configured against tracking and fingerprinting (in fact all my devices are) which would make it fairly difficult to retain any data unless they are profiling me.
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I’ve also noticed that if you do a search, click a result, then hit back to go back to the results they manipulate the results in some weird way so they’re not the exact same results you got the first time. Infuriating
This is the new quantum search feature: you changed the results by observing them.
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Yeah I hate that. Now all results have to be opened in new tabs just in case.
This is the most frustrating experience with DDG and I have no idea why they do it or if you can disable it.
Odd. I wonder what is going on here because when I search that exact same query I get accurate results.
I’ve had iffy search results before but never anything that bad.
I also don’t get the same results. I also have tracking and fingerprinting disabled everywhere.
I also returned totally accurate results using the exact same query. I would really like to know what is going on here. This is a common complaint with some people using DDG, that the results are poor, but I consistently have as good if not better results than using Google.
great. i finally get off google and now duckduckgo is bad. i hate the internet.
Try this one: https://searxng.no-logs.com/
So like… all Searx instances are independent, but I can save my preferences in a reproducible query string? Or like… how’s this a long-term, easy, good move for me? (I know ≈nothing).
You can do it that way if you grab that URL from the “cookies” section. Otherwise, it can save your preferences in a cookie.
Thanks!
Do all the Searx instances generate and keep independent indexes of the entire internet, or is it more like Lemmy (where, maybe, each instance is a window into the entirety of the index)?
Good question! I wish I knew, but unfortunately this is outside the scope of my knowledge. Someone on !privacyguides@lemmy.one could probably tell you immediately
Kagi was my favorite but their pricing model is a little too high still. If it was $5 for 500 searches I would do that but the unlimited for $10 is just a bit too high for me.
I get that not everyone has extra cash to spend. I’m very fortunate to be able to throw $10 at a problem. I don’t begrudge you if you need to save cash (I have no kids to raise, for example). But I think $10 is fair if you search a bunch. Maybe I’m overvaluing it; I have heard great things about Kagi, but I’m still fucking around on Google cause it’s “good enough,” even though it’s in great decline. Fuck it, I’m a hypocrite.
It has been doing this shit for a while. Returning results based on just one key word out of many keywords from my query.
Lately they have been even ignoring the restrictive +“keyword” syntax and returning whatever shit just so they won’t admit their (or Microsoft’s indexer) is shit
It’s not the fact that there are filler results that bothers me, after all there might not be results for everything we may possibly search.
It’s the fact that these are links to services which have a tie to my unique identifiers which I deliberately declined access to in all available ways!
What would we suggest as a realistic alternative? Sears? Startpage? Brave? (I am no expert by the way, just looking for tips)
I just switched to using Kagi recently and I like it a lot so far! Theres a free tier for 100/searches a month you can use to figure out if you like it.
Me too. I was so reluctant to pay for a search engine at first since there are good alternatives out there I don’t have to pay for. But I just at least wanted to try the first 100 free searches and was blown away by how great it is. It has some unique features like prioritizing or blocking specific domains, lenses and custom bangs. I payed the $10 the same day for Pro tier and 5 days later (yesterday) I even upgraded to Ultimate tier with ChatGPT-4 (called Kagi Assistant). I really, really enjoy Kagi so far. Most probably it’s gonna be my one and only search engine for the next years to come.
Are, are you telling me that I can block Fandom’s wiki results? Because I dream of such a future!
Yes, you can. You can block any domain you want to appear in your search results. Here’s the documentation for this feature.
Searx sucks for images in my experience, startpage was bought by an advertising company, brave is weird for a multitude of reasons but I don’t know how good their search engine is as I’ve never tried it
However I do think that finding a searx instance that works for you and then using another engine like ddg for images is the way to go… You could add a shortcut like “.ddg garbage truck” for easily searching with for example ddg on firefox
Brave’s search engine is… fine. I only use it by accident sometimes.
I’ve been using metager for some while and really like it. They’re also part of an initiative pushing for a free as in freedom search index, so that’s nice
I get the same shit at work where I can’t use a VPN: like 7-8 relevant results then basically just ads for local businesses after that.
Try kagi.com
I you have to pay for it, but t’s amazing
I’ll take the trial sometime and see if I should drop the cents
I have still the same good results in ddg, no matter what device or browser. I have noticed that they have some location bias when ddg (and any other search engine i have tried) has non good results globaly but good resulta locally.
Still better then anything i have tested. Just because there are minor anomalies i will stick with them.
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It does though? Right under the search bar there should be a switch bar to turn on localized search, and a dropdown to pick different location.
Or is it itself location locked?
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Nope not locked. I have always on vpn (random countries) anti fingerprinting and DDG happily allows the search localisation to my actual or a different country
On DDG I can type in an exact company or product name and not get a proper result, it’s crazy. Google seems to find the stuff no problem, it’s really quite frustrating when the search engine isn’t even capable of basic queries.
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Yes, I have the same issue with DDG for something like a year now. I can’t use it anymore for basic searches, I feel like the bing api they are using is getting worse and worse.
If you’re looking for a new search engine, I’ve been using paid search provider, Kagi.com, for the last few months. They’ve been great.
Slowly but surely I am coming to the realisation that free services sooner or later will drift away from their privacy claims
Precisely. Ad and user data supported products will always balance making their users happy, with making their paying customers happy.
Pricing seems a bit odd to me What happens if you don’t spend all your searches? Does it carry over to next month?
Wouldn’t it be better to pay as you go? Without the monthly requirements if they gonna have a limit anyway.
Same! Switched over to kagi a couple months ago and I’ve been loving it!
Kagi is awesome! I recently fell in love with it.
I feel like ddg has never had good search results
I paid for Kagi and have been super happy with it. If you don’t mind paying, I highly recommend it. Not having ads or manipulated results is worth it for me.
I’m unhappy that Kagi uses geo-location data to provide certain types of results
Oh that sucks, can you turn it off or spoof the location?
You can easily spoof the location on most search engines by using a VPN, but I’d much prefer my search engine solely respond to deliberate input from the user
you can just turn it off, see https://help.kagi.com/kagi/settings/general.html
