What is your favorite internet search engine and why?

[ParaDice]

I still use DDG as well. I love the ability to select any text in Firefox and right click for a search in DDG.

Hey, I didn't know about that one yet. Thanks! (I'm not sure whether I'll use it much, though. Hitting Ctrl + C, Ctrl + T and Ctrl + V + Enter to copy the selection to a new tab and search for it may be quicker yet. )

I'm yet another Duckin' fanboy on this thread. I try to avoid anything Google-related, which includes directing traffic their way via startpage. Also, Duckduck's bangs feel extremely intuitive and can save you a bit of time and typing on every search.

[Palladini]

My favourite Is BING Google is an Advertising Company first and foremost and they track every keystroke if you use anything google When I am using the TOR Browser the default is duck duck go, and I use it

[carum carvi]

I try to avoid anything Google-related, which includes directing traffic their way via startpage. Also, Duckduck's bangs feel extremely intuitive and can save you a bit of time and typing on every search.

I have read that Startpage does not direct data to Google. Startpage is, as far as I know, a privacy minded version (funded by the EU?) of Google. But somehow I keep coming back to using DuckDuckGo as well, because I especially like the search results better, compared to Google/Startpage, for when I am searching for movies or tv series online.

[ParaDice]

I try to avoid anything Google-related, which includes directing traffic their way via startpage.

I have read that Startpage does not direct data to Google.

You are correct to say that Google does not get any personal data from a Startpage search (other than, of course, the search query itself, which is useless as long as you cannot link it to a user).

But that is not what I wrote. (See the hightlights in the quotes above) I really meant traffic (= search queries = clicks = business = money), not personal data. I don't agree with Google's business model, so I try not to direct any traffic their way, be it personally identifiable or anonymised.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I like Startpage because of its page layout and it has an advanced search option that DuckDuckGo doesn't have (I have trouble remembering search syntax). I will use DuckDuckGo if Startpage doesn't give me the results I want with mixed results. Both have far more privacy than Google, Yahoo, etc.

[Night Wing]

I use the Ekoru search engine. Since I came from the maritime industry, Ekoru raises funds for the Big Blue Ocean Cleanup. And Ekoru doesn't store your data. If you want to check it out, the link to it is below.

https://ekoru.org/

[carum carvi]

I really meant traffic (= search queries = clicks = business = money), not personal data. I don't agree with Google's business model, so I try not to direct any traffic their way, be it personally identifiable or anonymised.

Okay, thanks for clarifying that ParaDice, I indeed misunderstood your point of view. I support your stand on this. The problem with Google however is that it is everywhere. I would like to avoid it, but it is almost impossible to avoid Google online. For example "google analytics" (not a search engine) is on many many webpages, even on those of which I would have never guessed that they would send information to Google, like my local library for instance. Google analytics is used to track website activity such as session duration, pages per session, geographical location and a lot more. I often see short flashes of text in the lower left corner of my screen when a new webpage is loading. And often I something Google related being mentioned.

Just read that Google's search engine marketshare is 72% or even more. The next "biggest" is Bing, with 12%. The next in line are search engines with 1% marketshare or even lower, like DuckDuckGo, which uses Microsoft Bing by the way as one of it's main sources, but they dont use anything from Google.

[carum carvi]

I use the Ekoru search engine. Since I came from the maritime industry, Ekoru raises funds for the Big Blue Ocean Cleanup. And Ekoru doesn't store your data. If you want to check it out, the link to it is below.

https://ekoru.org/

Thanks for mentioning that link Night Wing. I liked the layout of the Ekoru search engine web page: without any clutter. And it did quite well in finding results for my particular country. I am quite pleased with it and I will try using it for a while. It is powered by Microsoft's Bing.

Your mentioning of Ekoru made me curious if there are even more new search engines out there I didnt know of yet. And yes there are! Below is a link to more search engines I just found out about: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/alt ... es/271409/

[jp14]

i used to use duckduckgo but found that the search results aren't very accurate compared to google.
but i also don't want to use google.
so now after reading through this thread I gave startpage a try , so far so good
think i'll use that from now on and see how it goes.

[DAMIEN1307]

Vivaldi with Startpage search engine as their new default is looking very, very, nice these days as discussed in the following article. They are really going all out to show their "security chops"...DAMIEN

https://<blocked blogspam>/vivaldi-browser-g ... -startpage

[t42]

Vivaldi with Startpage search engine as their new default is looking very, very, nice these days as discussed in the following article. They are really going all out to show their "security chops"...DAMIEN

As there are some people here, who use Startpage because they consider it a better alternative, these people may be interested in the fact that Startpage has been sold to the advert-technology company System1 in October 2019 what caused privacy concerns https://blog.privacytools.io/delisting-startpage/ .

[DAMIEN1307]

I remember the article, but wish to point out the update which they put upfront first, before the first article...DAMIEN

May 3rd, 2020 Update: Startpage has answered all of our questions for them and has clarified their policies. We have decided to relist them on PrivacyTools, and you can read our latest announcement for more details.

Also read their latest announcement mentioned in their update where they have indeed re-listed Startpage as a recommendation once again.

https://blog.privacytools.io/relisting-startpage/

[t42]

I remember the article, but wish to point out the update which they put upfront first, before the first article...DAMIEN

Thanks for the update,

[carum carvi]

...i checked etools out and it said my ip was from an AS. at least with swisscows i can search with a vpn. also i think german laws are a bit better than swiss, but this (edited:SwissCows.com) is fine for now.

swisscows.com does look nice and uncluttered and etools.ch is very cluttered looking. etools.ch does have good privacy though and can be used easily with a vpn service, I shoudnt know why it couldnt, they even advise to use a vpn in their guide. I am not bothered by a search engine registering an AS, as long as it doesnt sell my information in any way I am fine. But thanks for mentioning that fact anyway, because even among the more privacy minded search engines, there are differences in privacy...

The thing about swisscows.com is that they block certain adult content and they dont state which content they block, nor can it be turned of. DuckDuckGo offers an ON/OFF switch. And swisscows.com does sometimes show paid advertisements on top in the search results, which cant be blocked by an adblocker. Etools.ch doesnt do that. And when I see ads in the search results I fear my datasearch is gonna be sold by the company to which it is linked on the search page. But overall I really like swisscows.com and it has gotten very positive reviews on different sites. I am going to use it for a while. Thanks for posting that link.

ItachiUchiha since your last post with links to all (for me new) information I now have discovered a lot more privacy minded search engines. I found another good review site as well, with some helpful additional information as how one can evaluate a search engine best.

https://restoreprivacy.com/private-search-engine/

[Bobb24]

A couple of articles regarding search engines and a browser here:
https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence ... 36451a959e

https://www.ghacks.net/2020/02/14/water ... o-system1/

[detimo]

I have read that Startpage does not direct data to Google.

Startpage is a Dutch company, but I read they were recently sold. They're not a Google property or affiliated

[carum carvi]

I have read that Startpage does not direct data to Google.

Startpage is a Dutch company, but I read they were recently sold. They're not a Google property or affiliated

Hmmm, interesting news detimo. I did a search and came up with more detailed news about this take over: https://restoreprivacy.com/startpage-sy ... one-group/

Found another page, that offered current search engine alternatives of which some are quite interesting, being completely open source and non-profit. The combination of NOT wanting to make a profit and being open source, noticeably increases my trust in a search engine: https://restoreprivacy.com/private-search-engine/

[detimo]

Swisscows, they're based in Switzerland and they collect nothing about their users.

i recommend checking this article out, this person foes a good job of explaining a good chunk of the engines out there
https://digdeeper.neocities.org/ghost/search.html

and this one too
https://restoreprivacy.com/private-search-engine/

Wow, there are really many search engines. But in practice, Google has like 90% of the search market. Unfortunately they take 'negative seo' into account, so anyone can ruin the search rankings by creating a lot of spam links to a competitor, this means search results are no longer reliable.

These days i'm using ddg, searx and stackoverflow to search

[Philomath_tux]

Google because:

• In my experience it gives the best (Most accurate) results for my search topic.

• I don't have data on this, but I would bet that they have the most indexed information of the public internet for advanced "google dorks" searching.

• I also use google news so my recommended articles are very well tuned at this point based on my search history.

Now for more privacy, I would recommend duckduckgo in my experience.

[absque fenestris]

Google because:

• In my experience it gives the best (Most accurate) results for my search topic.

• I don't have data on this, but I would bet that they have the most indexed information of the public internet for advanced "google dorks" searching.

• I also use google news so my recommended articles are very well tuned at this point based on my search history.

Now for more privacy, I would recommend duckduckgo in my experience.

The Google marketing team is sure to appreciate your contribution. Unfortunately this is the impasse - it works too well...