> There are two main things I find myself needing it for: Location based queries, Google will always prioritize UK based results, and often London based results for me.
As I'm German, that's actually where DDG has the advantage over Google. Most of my searches are in English, but sometimes I want to search for something here, with DDG that's just a single press of a button and I get German results. With Google I'd have to do multiple clicks.
You can also force Googles language using the query parameter "hl". E.g. www.google.de/?hl=en returns English queries. That parameter is preserved through multiple querries, so you can use this in a bookmark and have multiple google language versions just a click away.
Not as handy as the DDG location switch, but still a sometimes useful hack.
Huh. So your comment made me wonder if there is a !gde bang. Turns out there is :D
There's a little toggle switch below the search box on DDG that will let you flip localized searches on/off. I use it when I need local results. It's a step extra of cause, but it is nice being able to quickly tell the search engine whether or not you want local result.
I find DDG does a better job with low-to-mid difficulty tech queries because it displays the top stack overflow answer at the top of the results which is often what I want. But you're right, really obscure tech questions usually involve a !g.
Re:DuckDuckGo Raises $10M
by arminiusreturns on Wednesday August 29, 2018 @01:13AM
(#17865839)
Especially images. Google freaking removed the ability to go straight to an image without going to the page. Google has also repeatedly violated user rights, computing isn't all about pragmatism. Of course, I'm a gplv3/gnu kind of user so I'm the outlier.
Re:DuckDuckGo Raises $10M
by fathead_glacier on Wednesday August 29, 2018 @06:12AM
(#17867073)
Google will also show you results targeted only for you. In comparison different IP address/accounts using the same search string in DDG will always get the same result. This can lead to a bias which might not be optimal.
Also they have advertisements, but unlike Google they are not targeted to you, hence making them less competitive for advertisers. Hopefully, this will not prevent them from growing in the future.
I hope DDG can keep improving, and I do feel like it's a worthy alternative now. I do wonder how they can keep making money with no advertising or paid services, but if they were to be bought out by a big player, I think they would quickly lose much of their user base.