People have grown more conscious of what information they are providing corporations and advertising, often without their knowledge or agreement, since Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica incident. In 2021, the number of data breaches reached a new high of 1,862. More individuals are taking precautions to secure their information, and one method is to use the search engine DuckDuckGo.
DuckDuckGo has established itself as a privacy-conscious alternative to search engines such as Google. DuckDuckGo has released Android and iOS mobile applications as well as browser extensions to help keep your data private whether you use it on your phone or PC.
Here are a few reasons why DuckDuckGo should be your default search engine –
Stop internet trackers from tracking you
Online trackers may be found all over the internet. According to Princeton’s Web Transparency & Accountability Project, Google trackers are present on around 75% of websites, whereas Facebook trackers are present on approximately 25% of websites. These trackers capture information about your interests and activities on certain websites. According to research conducted by Princeton and Stanford universities, these online behaviors combined with access to your social media profile are enough to recognize you.
DuckDuckGo detects and disables web trackers from sites such as Google and Facebook. The search engine may also display the networks that have monitored you over time, providing you with a more complete view of how your data is being utilized.
DuckDuckGo, on the other hand, came under criticism in May when monitoring scripts from the company’s partner, Microsoft, were discovered in DuckDuckGo’s search engine. DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg said that this was due to the company’s partnership agreement and that DuckDuckGo is trying to amend this policy.
There will be fewer advertisements
When you use DuckDuckGo, you should encounter fewer advertisements overall.
If you do a Google search, you may see advertisements in the top results. Ads aren’t usually shown in those areas, but they’re structured identically to regular search results, with just a bolded “Ad” and a separator dot to separate them.
When you search for anything on DuckDuckGo, you’ll see fewer advertisements and save time.
In addition to fewer advertisements on the results page, adverts won’t follow you throughout the web since DuckDuckGo eliminates internet trackers. If you use DuckDuckGo to look for anything specific, such as a new food bowl for your pet, you won’t constantly be seeing adverts for pet bowls on numerous websites.
Faster load times for Websites
Online trackers not only cause adverts to follow you around and gather your data, but they also add more data to websites you visit, slowing down the load speed. DuckDuckGo disables these trackers, freeing up bandwidth and allowing webpages to load quicker.
Your Search History is never saved
Every time you open DuckDuckGo, it’s a clean slate, devoid of any previous searches.
The disadvantage is that there are no recommended search alternatives. Also, if you want to go back and look at anything you saw before, you won’t be able to do so in your history.
Google’s Incognito mode also keeps your search history hidden, but it accomplishes so by removing it when you shut the browser. It is still saved if you do not shut the window. Incognito mode still captures some of your data, such as your location and search activity.
Your browser history will have no effect on your search results
When you use Google to search for anything, it filters the results it displays. Google displays results for your search that it believes you would click on based on the information it has gathered about you. It doesn’t bother displaying your results since it doesn’t believe you’ll click on them.
DuckDuckGo will provide more comprehensive search results since it does not censor your results. Some results from the first page of a DuckDuckGo search may appear on the second or third page of a Google search.
When compared to Google, search results might seem inaccurate since they aren’t targeted to you and your interests. Certain DuckDuckGo users on Reddit have admitted to using Google for some queries when DuckDuckGo returns irrelevant results. This may seem to be a disadvantage, but it ultimately indicates that DuckDuckGo is functioning well.
