this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2023
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I live in a country which uses a language I don't speak but Google defaults to regional results in spite of my language being set to English. All other engines give me really poor results (not that Google was giving good ones, the image search has really gone to shit since they started populating it with AI stuff).

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[–] kaffeebohne@feddit.de 50 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I use DuckDuckGo and am happy with it

[–] Fubarberry@lemmy.fmhy.ml 10 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Honestly the search bangs are the killer duckduckgo feature. I started using it because I was upset with Google hiding search results, but it's being able to easily search any search engine that keeps me using it.

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[–] SillyLilJester@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago (2 children)

The dealbreaker for me with DDG is they use Apple maps as default and don't let you change it.

[–] dannoffs@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Not exactly the solution you're looking for but starting a search on DDG with "!gm" will search google maps directly.

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[–] Nolando@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 2 years ago (7 children)

DuckDuckGo 95% of the time, Google if I’m having trouble finding something.

[–] Faendol@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I switched to DuckDuckGo a while ago and haven't regretted it at all. I honestly barely notice the difference.

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[–] amortized_cost@beehaw.org 4 points 2 years ago

DuckDuckGo 99% of the time, ~~Google~~ Startpage if I'm having trouble finding something.

*Note: Startpage uses Google as their source of search result.

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[–] thatonedude1210@beehaw.org 19 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Big fan of DuckDuckGo and Startpage. Brave Search is also a fine choice, as well.

[–] peetabix@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

Been using Duck Duck Go too for a while. Not heard of Startpage before.

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[–] sapo@beehaw.org 11 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Nothing compares to DuckDuckGo with bangs, which let you change over to any other search engine with two or three characters. I usually use !g (Google), !w (Wikipedia) and !aw (ArchWiki).

[–] CaptainMinnette@lemmy.fmhy.ml 4 points 2 years ago

I didn't know DDG introduced that feature. That's sick honestly. They even have bangs for my more obscure wikis.

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[–] fratermus@fedia.io 11 points 2 years ago

Duckduckgo by default, adding !g bang syntax to use google if DDG isn't helping.

[–] aski3252@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 years ago

Duckduckgo as default. If I need location/region specific stuff, I will sometimes use google.

[–] retnuh@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I’ve used DuckDuckGo for a long time now and have never had a problem with it

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[–] LucidDaemon@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I use Qwant and find it gives me better results than Google most of the time. It claims to be private and such, so I'm happy with it.

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[–] russjr08@outpost.zeuslink.net 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I use DuckDuckGo, because I really love the "bangs" feature. Want to look up something on the AUR? Use !aur term. Google Images? !gi term, etc. There are tons of them!.

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[–] OutrageousUmpire@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Brave. It’s interesting getting completely different results than from any of the big players. And the results from Brave are often better.

[–] setsneedtofeed@beehaw.org 5 points 2 years ago

I use the Brave browser on my phone. The searches are good, but I mainly like that I can watch YouTube without adds, and make the video windowed and even turn off the phone screen while it plays.

[–] possiblylinux127@beehaw.org 8 points 2 years ago
[–] Nymphioxetine@beehaw.org 7 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Bing, actually. I think it has greatly improved. Mostly. Plus the new Bing and AI stuff has been great. Much better than google

[–] thesanewriter@vlemmy.net 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I also use Bing. I like the AI features and the rewards program. The results are meh in terms of quality, but at this point honestly so are Google's.

[–] Nymphioxetine@beehaw.org 4 points 2 years ago

The rewards and AI are really the only selling parts. I guess it’s the cost of allowing them your data.

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[–] drownedPhoenician@feddit.de 7 points 2 years ago

Duckduckgo. I stpped using google for the privacy stuff but I stayed because of the language switch.

I don't know if I tweaked a setting to achieve it, but I have a language switch below the search bar. Google always showed me german results when searching for something english and the other wy around, so I love this feature. Search results are good enough for me, so duckduckgo it is.

[–] Yoru_Sulfur@lemmy.davidbuckley.ca 7 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I use kagi. It's pretty nice, though it's not free.

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[–] httpjames@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 years ago (6 children)

Kagi is a great premium alternative. They focus obsessively on search result quality and adding helpful, but non invasive AI tools. One of them is even free as an experiment!

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[–] CliodhnaBaskerville@beehaw.org 6 points 2 years ago (3 children)

DuckDuckGo. I've become reliant on the bangs. Regular search not giving me what I want? Just add !g. Want to find a word? !wt. Look up an album? !rym. Just want to search something on YouTube quickly? !yt

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[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 6 points 2 years ago

Duckduckgo.com. This is the way.

[–] The_Digitalfigment@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 years ago

I used DuckDuckGo as my default and it works out for me most of the time. Though, were it tends to fall apart is with image searching. When I can't find what I'm looking for I'll go to Google and find it pretty quickly.

[–] Ullallulloo@civilloquy.com 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

As much as I dislike it, mainly Google still. Sometimes Bing for the AI help. Brave Search is also really good and the only new search engine I can see surpassing Google some day.

[–] shreddy_scientist@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Brave's latest update made it so image searches are only through Google or Bing for mr. After seeing this, I've been using ecosia.org and it's fantastic!

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[–] EXiLExJD@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 years ago

I mostly use Startpage or DuckDuckGo.

[–] parlaptie@feddit.de 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I use DuckDuckGo. When I first heard about it, I tried it for a bit, found that it didn't really give good results, and switched back to Google. Some years later I found that Google also stopped giving good results, so I figured that if my search results just aren't going to be good, I'll at least switch away from Google.

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[–] edo@beehaw.org 5 points 2 years ago

I started using Kagi recently and it’s fantastic. The results have been great, it’s pretty customisable and it uses all the same ! bangs as DuckDuckGo. Don’t feel like I have to use Google at all anymore (which wasn’t the case when I used DDG as my go-to). Plus, since it’s a paid service, there are no ads and no guff.

[–] kamin@lemmy.kghorvath.com 5 points 2 years ago

Running my own SearX instance, fetching from multiple different sites.

[–] veloxization@yiffit.net 5 points 2 years ago

I hop between Brave search, Startpage and DuckDuckGo depending on the results I get.

[–] eric3a@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago
[–] awwsom@beehaw.org 4 points 2 years ago
[–] shortwavesurfer@monero.house 4 points 2 years ago (3 children)
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[–] Watcher@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 2 years ago

I use ddg most of the time. It fits all my needs. Sometimes when it comes to very niche things or complicated things I use startpage or brave.

[–] matt@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

I'm using Startpage and it's been mostly fine. The biggest issue is that the "nested" results that come from Google (e.g. a forum and related posts) don't show in Startpage, it will only show the main result.

I really wanted to use something like SearXNG, but I get basically zero results whenever I use an instance, no idea if I'm missing something in how they work.

[–] Sleeping@iusearchlinux.fyi 4 points 2 years ago

I rotate between a handful of public SearX/SearXNG instances. I used to use Duckduckgo but after learning about the deal they had with Microsoft I completely stopped trusting them.

[–] 10EXP@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Brave search. The results have been better for me than most of the major players, summarizer comes in handy, and the discussions section showing forum posts on the searched for topic + top comment is useful. No native image section, but I work around that by !s bang to search on startpage when I need images. And yes, it has bangs, just like DDG.

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[–] mainfrog@beehaw.org 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I use the following search engines listed by priority:

  • Brave
  • DuckDuckGo
  • Google / Bing

Sometimes the first two just don't have the right results.

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[–] nattekrant@feddit.nl 4 points 2 years ago

When I setup a new browser, I always delete all the default search engines and install DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Qwant and Startpage. If I'm looking for accurate results, I always use 2 or 3 of these. I can't say I consistently get better results using one or the other.

[–] Bretzel@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I use Startpage, a privacy focused search engine which uses Google powerful search engine but without sending the actual data to them. The result are pretty good. You can change both the language and region in the settings. Bad part of Startpage is it is a for profit company (some advertising will be displayed using past search history only)

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[–] quizno50@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 years ago

Results are very hit-and-miss, but if you're into the whole distributed search engine thing you should give Yacy a try. https://yacy.net/ I ran a node for a long time and as long as you keep feeding the index you usually get decent results for the things you search for often.

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