Looking for a Private Search Engine? Is DuckDuckGo Right for you?
As a child, maybe you played the game Duck, Duck, Goose. Well, nowadays we have something called DuckDuckGo. Different concept, same idea.
What is DuckDuckGo?
DuckDuckGo is a search engine that mainly focuses on privacy. We thought we would take the time to break it down and explain some key features. As a promise, DuckDuckGo allows you to "search the Web without being traced." To put it simply, they don't keep or share personal information.
You can use DuckDuckGo on iOS and Android through their app or extension. You can add a private Web search to your favorite browser or simply use DuckDuckGo.com to search for things. The site's private browser add-on blocks trackers and encrypts all of your devices.
It's a good search engine, but why should you use it?
Obviously, Google is the clear winner when it comes to search. The problem is, there's no real way of getting rid of your search history. On top of that, they're watching everything you do on the web. Their trackers are on a lot of different websites.
For example, have you ever looked at a new sweatshirt and decided not to buy it, only to see it in digital ads for days to come after you did? That's because of the way you're being tracked. DuckDuckGo claims that its search engine doesn't have any trackers on it. As a bonus, it also stops Google and other companies from tracking you.
When using Incognito Mode, you might think that you are anonymous. Unfortunately, Google will still keep a record of your history. Companies, internet service providers, and the government can also keep track of you.
You can't see your IP address or other unique identifiers on DuckDuckGo because it doesn't keep them in its search logs. In other words, this means that they can't keep a record of what you search for or how much data you use.
Is DuckDuckGo good at what it does?
Private search engines have a lot of people wondering about how they compare to the other engines. The company says it gives "truly private search results without sacrificing the quality of the results." DuckDuckGo says it has "everything you've come to expect in your online search experience." This includes things like:
- maps;
- weather forecasts;
- local search;
- news;
- images;
- videos;
- shopping;
- definitions;
- Wikipedia references;
- currency conversions;
- flight information;
- calculator;
- timer;
- sports scores;
- Q&A reference.
Can DuckDuckGo compete?
Since it was founded in 2008, DuckDuckGo has been getting more and more users. On January 13, 2022, the search engine said that it had made more than 100 billion all-time searches.
During the same week, DuckDuckGo saw the highest number of search queries that it had ever seen: 110,439,133. A year ago, on January 11, 2021, the company said that it had reached 100 million searches a day.
According to Search Engine Land, "Duck Duck Go is still a very niche competitor." Which is true. A lot of people use Google (as much as 87.57 of all searches). According to statcounter.com, Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo were the next three biggest competitors. Bing received 6.31 percent, Yahoo received 3.25 percent, and DuckDuckGo received 2.5 percent of all searches.
Protecting your privacy online
DuckDuckGo is a good choice for people who want more privacy when they're online. There are many other ways to protect your identity online and secure the data on your residential computers. Contact our IT experts today, and find out how you can protect yourself from online threats.
Click here to schedule a free 15-minute meeting with Stan Kats, our Founder and Chief Technologist.
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