There's a different approach to DDG, which emphasises having a set of trusted sources rather than a powerful whole-web analysis as Google does. DDG often misses the wanted result, but often gives the result much higher up than Google.

I use Google more than I do DDG, but I use DDG enough that I miss the DDG shortcuts quite a bit when using Google: I recommend spending more time with DDG. The !hn shortcut, for instance, is quite useful around here.

There is a Chrome extension that allow DDG searches while keeping Google as your default:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/edacflbhpmcimdanpf...

What I'd like to see is a DDG/Google search toggle, or a pop-up selector such as Firefox has.