What is DuckDuckGo? How does it Work? Can it protect your privacy? Today, you will know everything about the world’s most popular alternative search engine, “DuckDuckGo.”

Websites like Google, Bing, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and almost all websites collect user data. Some sites even sell user data to third-party sites or use the data to create targeted advertising opportunities for advertisers.

DuckDuckGo: What is It? What are the Features and Statistics? [Explained Everything]: eAskme

The use of user data for showing related ads seems harmless.

But data scandals have changed everything.

Zoom data scandal, Cambridge Analytics, and Microsoft Hotmail Scandals are a few examples of the biggest user data leaks.

These data scandals have made headlines and made everyone aware of the data leak threats.

Now people are more concerned about how brands can handle online privacy.

At that time, DuckDuckGo came as the answer.

What is DuckDuckGo?

DuckDuckGo is a popular alternative search engine launched in 2008.

Gabriel Weinberg founded DuckDuckGo with the idea of “Never Track” user data.

DuckDuckGo has gained popularity as a search engine that cares about data privacy.

DuckDuckGo Search engine offers the following features:

Calculator
Currency Conversions
Definitions
Flight Information
Images
Local Business answers
Question/Answer references
Timer
Wikipedia References
Maps
News
Weather
Videos
Images
Sport Scores

DuckDuckGo Bonus features also include:

Shortcuts to visiting other sites.
Region and language localization.
Custom themes.
You can also use DuckDuckGo apps and extensions.

For example, you can use DuckDuckGo extensions in other browsers to stop data tracking.

DuckDuckGo Statistics:

DuckDuckGo is the second most popular search engine after Google.
DuckDuckGo has crossed 71.9 billion searches in 2023.
DuckDuckGo owns a 0.68% search engine market share worldwide.
DuckDuckGo owns a 2.51% search engine market share in the USA.
More than 5 million people are using the DuckDuckGo chrome extension.
Ads on DuckDuckGo are 10 times cheaper than ads on Google.
DuckDuckGo has raised $113 million.
200 people are working in DuckDuckGo.

How is DuckDuckGo different from search engines like Google?

Websites are using IP addresses and data to track users.

DuckDuckGo does not use IP addresses to track users using the search engine.

When you search for something on the DuckDuckGo search engine and visit a website page, it will stop trackers from sending your information to that website.

It means that website will not know which keyword you have used to visit the page.

Other search engines, like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc., are tracking users to provide a personalized experience.

Tracking user behavior helps search engines to understand user intent and offer desired results.

But DuckDuckGo works differently.

DuckDuckGo does not track users. Unfortunately, it also means that search results are not personalized on DuckDuckGo.

No Search History:

Search engines other than DuckDuckGo use user data to help advertisers create personalized ads.

But DuckDuckGo is different. It never stores user history.

DuckDuckGo still makes money by displaying ads, but they do not track your history.

No Third-Party Trackers:

Google tracks users on 85% of the most popular websites.

Google Analytics is the tool that helps Google to track users coming on the website.

Google also uses other ad networks, such as DoubleClick, Adsense, and Admob.

Not only Google but Bing and Yahoo also track user data.

DuckDuckGo browser and app block trackers.

Filter Bubble:

Search engines always try to feed you the information you already believe in.

But DuckDuckGo provides unbiased results.

What crawlers is DuckDuckGo using?

DuckDuckGo is using 400 resources such as:

Apple Maps
Bing
Wolfram Alpha
Yahoo
Yandex

DuckDuckGo is also using crowdsourcing sites and DuckDuckBot.

But DuckDuckGo is not using any resources from Google.

DuckDuckGo also follows a strict user privacy policy.

Pros and Cons of DuckDuckGo:

Google is the search engine giant. DuckDuckGo is climbing the stairs.

DuckDuckGo crossed 100 million users.

Even though DuckDuckGo works to secure privacy yet, there are some pros and cons that you must know.

DuckDuckGo Pros:

DuckDuckGo offers absolute privacy.
Shortcuts for websites.
Clean Interface.
Non-targeted ads.
Unbiased search results.
No Social engineering.
One-page results.

DuckDuckGo Cons:

Not offer too many features like other search engines.
Not advanced search algorithms.
Limited results.
No malware or virus protection.
The image and maps are not good.
Low-quality ranking signals.

If you are one of those who do not want to be tracked when searching online, then you should choose DuckDuckGo over other search engines.

Conclusion:

DuckDuckGo is surely a secure search engine that does not track user data. But it also offers fewer features. Sometimes the quality of the results is also questionable.

The big reason is that they are not tracking user data. And because of this, they cannot charge much from their advertisers. As they are not charging much, they cannot invest as much as other search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo can invest.

This is the reason why DuckDuckGo is growing but at a slow rate.

And, if you are using search engines like Google, you should know that every feature comes at the cost of your privacy.

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June 30, 2022

DuckDuckGo: What is It? What are the Features and Statistics? [Explained Everything]