Always a contrarian with an aversion to Big Brother, I’ve been open to alternatives to Google for online research. Still, it seems to come up with the broadest results.
Lately, though, I’ve been relying on DuckDuckGo (https://duckduckgo.com/) as an alternative, largely on its promises to keep my wanderings more private. What I am finding interesting is the fact that it comes up with a different swath of results than Google does.
Yes, I still turn to Google, no apologies, but I do like getting off the freeway, if you know what I mean.
I am curious about other search engines other folks are using – and why.
What are your search engine preferences?
Jnana's Red Barn 
Duckduckgo here as well but its results can be very different and miss things compared to google or bing I find.
I use google for the same reasons you mentioned, and although I haven’t really tried duckduckgo it has been recommended highly. Years ago there was a search engine called “dogpile” which I liked. I like to use google because it works for me asking questions like “…account of conversation between man in green hat and football player…” It doesn’t always work, but often enough. I think I’ll copy your doing a comparison search. I don’t want propaganda, or hits that are blatantly anti-mine, but do want a reasonable list of pertinent news events…pro and con. Big brother is always with us…or against us, maybe I should say.
Reblogged this on SOMETIMES and commented:
I like this subject—search engines— Thanks to Jnana Hodson for the reblog. He is one of my favorite writers.
Why, thank you!
thank you Jnana. I’ve been a fan since I bought your newsroom story a few years ago…made me think it was part of my memory. 🙂
I use Google, Bing, and Duckduckgo in about equal measure as the results can be quite different. I’ve recently discovered ecosia.org, and while their results are more limited than the major players, I like their business principles.
Thanks for the mention …
Not seen that mention before….. thanks for the pointer, we are all different in our search results so its worth a try 🙂
Google out of habit and convenience, but I’ve heard many good things about duckduckgo, need to give it a try.
Just started using it a few days before seeing this… so my experience is limited. But I appreciate the increased privacy.
I use Firefox browser, duck duck go search engine and a Firefox add on called Privacy Badger.
Between the three of them I have severely limited Google, Facebook and others from tracking and recording my internet searches and have blocked most tracking cookies and targeted advertising as well.
Happy holidays
Duck Duck Go is my primary search engine. I will use Google in an anonymous window for deeper (specific, harder-to-find) searches. I have tried Startpage and I am thinking of making it my way of getting to Google results. I have also tried Ecosia, it uses Bing as its motor and I found there was too much advertising above the line.