DuckDuckGo Review: DuckDuckGo vs Google, How to download the Browser, and is it safe?
Article Index:
1. Introduction
2. What is the DuckDuckGo search engine?
3. The Salient features of DuckDuckGo
4. Do users around the world accept DuckDuckGo?
5. The Advantages and Disadvantages of using DuckDuckGo
5.1 The Advantages
5.2 The Disadvantages
6. How to download DuckDuckGo?
7. Is DuckDuckGo safe?
8. Conclusion
Introduction
When it comes to the topic of being an efficient search engine, Google stands tall when compared to others. The Google search engine is the most prominent and gets used by most of industries and companies as the ‘standard’ search engine.
Yes, Google search is a fantastic tool for anyone who wants to surf for something important online. But are there any other search engines that are as efficient as Google? Are there competitors out there who can throw Google out of this race?
What is the DuckDuckGo search engine?
One such search engine is DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo has all such features which can give fierce competition to Google. DuckDuckGo possesses most of the features of Google and also has plenty more such features which can get used by many searchers.
So, below, we will discuss the important and salient features of the lovely search engine DuckDuckGo. We will also answer some critical questions about the DuckDuckGo.
The Salient features of DuckDuckGo
3.1 DuckDuckGo, the eminent search engine, got launched in 2008. The noteworthy feature f this search engine is that it claims that it never stores any user's personal information in its database.
3.2 The website’s homepage states that it does not collect the user's personal information while surfing this search engine.
DuckDuckGo does not irritate its users with unwanted ads as it never stores their user history or tracks their IP address. DuckDuckGo contains no personal data to sell, whether you are using it in the browser or private mode.
3.3 DuckDuckGo doesn’t follow its users around with ads since it won’t store their search history, won’t track their IP address, and essentially has no personal data to sell, regardless of whether the user is in private browsing mode.
3.4 Because of its privacy feature, DuckDuckGo stands way ahead of its competitors in this field of search engines. After the invention of DuckDuckGo, many other search engines started to use the same privacy feature.
3.5 One more noteworthy feature of DuckDuckGo is DuckDuckBot. This bot, which is ever-active, helps get the right amount of results by searching over 400 different sources, including content from other search engines such as Yahoo, Bing, and Yandex and even through crowdfunding sites like Wikipedia.
3.6 It also presents a Knowledge panel that looks like a breakout box on the right rail. This Knowledge panel offers quick access to information on many important details such as phone number, name, website, address, and many more. This information is drawn from the same sources mentioned above and Wikipedia.
3.7 DuckDuckGo extracts more information from the user-review site Yelp. The report includes reviews, phone numbers, addresses, and business hours.
3.8 The location directions for most businesses and industries get extracted through Bing Maps by default. This setting can also get changed to Google Maps by changing the Maps settings of DuckDuckGo.
3.9 DuckDuckGo also presents a clean interface and offers several usability features, such as preferences or tweaks, which can simplify the search process for the user. Though most of these features were implemented by Google initially, it was DuckDuckGo, which started its users to use these attributes.
For example, once a user has reached the Search Engine Results Page (SERP), they can select an option to see more results, which opens directly below the previous page. Its more straightforward interface makes the user experience a bit cleaner.
3.10 All the category pages enclosed in the DuckDuckGo platform offer category lineups which house briefer descriptions and images which get showcased neatly.
3.11 Though it is not as effective as Google at this stage, DuckDuck presents many instant answers compared to Google’s featured snippets. All these answers get extracted from more than 100 sources on the web, as claimed by DuckDuckGo.
3.12 Other than the typical search results, DuckDuckGo also presents search-vertical options such as:
- Image Results
- Web results
- Video Results
- Maps Results
- News Results
3.13 DuckDuckGo will efficiently display all the applicable search verticals depending on which type of search vertical you opt for.
For example, if you are reaching something related to food or a dish, DuckDuckGo will present a ‘Recipes’ vertical.
3.14 It comprises a simple site search command named ‘!bang syntax’, which helps make the viewing and searching experience a lot easier on the site.
Do users around the world accept DuckDuckGo?
Yes, they are. The annual traffic going Duck DuckGo has grown by a margin of 55 percent in 2017 and again by 56 percent in 2018. DuckDuckGo witnessed more than 6 billion searches in 2017 and around 9.2 billion in 2018.
This number is meant to grow, and we cannot tell to what extent it can improve in the coming days. Undoubtedly, one thing which gets said is people are noticing this search engine, and many people can get expected to join this simple search engine.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of using DuckDuckGo:
The Advantages:
5.1.1 Privacy Feature: The privacy feature offered by the DuckDuckGo search engine is not available in any other search engines we see today.
5.1.2 Easier to use: DuckDuckGo presents a clean and straightforward interface that makes it immensely more accessible for users to use and surf through their favorite pages.
5.1.3 Growth in Popularity: As already mentioned above, the user traffic of DuckDuckGo has rapidly increased for two years. It has become hugely popular and is undoubtedly stiff competition to many popular search engines.
The Disadvantages:
5.2.1 Efficiency is lesser than Google: Though DuckDuckGo has many features on par with Google, its search engine is not as efficient as Google and has often given misleading results.
5.2.2 Tiny Market Share: Compared to other competitors in the search engine field, DuckDuckGo has a significantly lesser share. This attribute is due to its lower popularity but is undoubtedly going to increase as it is heavily getting popularised lately.
5.2.3 Looks more like a shadow of Google: Though DuckDuckGo presents some useful features, all of them have already been implemented by Google. Most of the ideas, functionality, and practices look precisely like Google making DuckDuckGo look like the shadow of Google. Except for their privacy terms, DuckDuckGo is almost similar to the features of Google.
How to download DuckDuckGo?
DuckDuckGo offers a mobile browser other than the regular website only if you use an Android device. DuckDuckGo mobile browser not only hosts DuckDuckgo as its primary search engine but also blocks every tracker hosted on sites that roam around you for advertisements.
Access Duckduckgo on the web browser here.
Downloading DuckDuckGo is very simple if you have an Android Device. You have to go to the Google Play Store. Search for DuckDuckGo and install it. The application directly gets installed into the device.
Download Duckduckgo's Android app here.
Is DuckDuckGo safe?
As already mentioned above, DuckDuckGo promises full-hearted privacy at no cost. It never monitors your browsing activities or looks at what you are interested in. These browsers are the sort of breach engines everyone is finding nowadays.
You can safely collect data using the DuckDuckGo search engine, as it never tracks or saves your browsing history. You remain completely anonymous by using DuckDuckGo, and no one can ever trace your location or IP address, or browsing history.
But the attractive interface of DuckDuckGo may lead some parents to believe it as a kid-friendly browser. But no, it is not. Although it is safer than other search engines available, the DuckDuckGo search engine never prevents or protects kids from surfing the website they want.
Conclusion
Both search engines, Google and DuckDuckGo, help you search for the answers you are looking for, and that too in a time-efficient manner.
People dependent on certain things, such as privacy and clean interface, would lean towards DuckDuckGo because of its lucrative privacy feature. Besides that, DuckDuckGo also does a secure job as a search engine compared to other search engines.
And basically, it also doesn’t mean that Google searches for more rare answers that DuckDuckGo cannot find. It is entirely not. Both of them will help you find the right solutions and provide the same set of content and answers. The difference lies between the preferences; that’s it.