Open Source @lemmy.ml Fisch @lemmy.ml 1 yr. ago

What search engines do you use?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/4448974

I've recently started using a self hosted SearXNG instance but I'm still using the search engines enabled by default (google, duckduckgo and qwant). What search engines do you have enabled or which ones do you feel you've gotten the best results with?

35 comments

Recently switched to Duck Duck Go and honestly I find the results better than Google. More accurate, less "sponsored" results, ...
- DDG doesn't like to exclude words from your searches though. It lets you exclude sites using the -site: parameter, but won't exclude individual words. And it constantly gives me search results that don't include the words that I'm searching for.
  
  Have you tried using exclusive terms with quotation marks? Like "how to get rich fast" That should only feature sites with exactly that search term. Additionally you could link words with + between them i think.
I used to use SearXNG until I discovered 4get
- Isn't this how all the privacy respecting search engines started?
  
  The issue is the search index.
  
  Afaik, only Brave uses its own search index. (It acquired Tailcat, so there's that.)
  
  I use Duckduckgo, but it uses Bing as its base.
I've been using kagi for the last few months, I like it but due to the pricing it's changes how I use search.
- I've used it for about a month, but the number of searches I do is over the $10/month plan, so I should switch to the next that is $25/month, definitely too much! I'll keep using Google within it's own container in Firefox so that it can't track anything and without any ads thanks to PiHole (or is it uBlock Origin?).
Google for most things.

Bing in an incognito window for weird porn.
- Yup, Bing used to be the best at Porn. Iirc, beta testers trained it that way.
- Your comment is so weirdly specific it made me really laugh.
Searx for piracy stuff. (occasional use)

Google because kinda used to UI and the direct quick answer without having to look for it in the site

duckduckgo is the default on Firefox and it's about as good as Google when i use it.

Yandex is weirdly the best one for image search.(occasional use)

Bing via the AI because it acts as the best teacher I've ever had. Patient, understanding and adapting to my level ( use a lot recently )
I really like Brave search
- Doesn't work reliably in SearXNG unfortunately
  
  Works fine on it's own
DuckDuckGO for the bangs, with a custom !bang made for my favorite SearXNG instance; on which most of my 'googling' actually happens.
- I just define my own bangs. Both Firefox and Google let you set up custom search engines easily. For example I just type d bag of holding into my URL bar and it searched my favourite D&D reference site. Faster, private and I can select whatever search engine I want for regular search.
  
  That's good to know! And I'm sure it's beneficial information for those that were unaware of that. However, (unless I'm wrong) the method you described requires you to be deliberate and precise in the placement of your own bang; i.e. bag of d holding or bag of holding d wouldn't work. As I often just start typing whatever I want to search/look for and only notice midway/afterwards that I hadn't specified where I would like to search, the built-in 'bangs' in Firefox/Chrome just wouldn't cut it unless I would try to rewire my behavior.
  
  What is this? Could you elaborate?
Whoogle.

Google results without the tracking. Only the pros.
- I heard that Google has been getting quite a bit worse over the years, so I hoped that someone may know a search engine that's better
StartPage. It's Google search results, including calculator, weather, etc., but without sponsored results.
I use 4get.ca
@Fisch DuckDuckGo and StartPage
Ecosia!
DuckDuckGo Lite. I get quick, no distractions search results.
Ecosia
- Since I'm using SearXNG, I would only make them lose money and I'd rather not since they actually put that money to good use
  
  With SearXNG you get all of the search engines in one. With some configuration it gives me the best results I ever had. Not too niche not too spammy. Also having direct torrent and fdroid/apk search integration is a blessing!
Brave search, it has its own index. I think it's the only one to do that in the privacy space?
- Brave? Isn't that the crypto-scam browser? Same people?
  
  They fixed those, I haven't seen anything from them recently and the crypto stuff is optional anyway.
My Searx instance has Google, DuckDuckGo, Startpage, plus Wikidata and Wikipedia. I also have it configured to block all results from all the socials, including Reddit.

Google probably isn't necessary given I have Startpage enabled, but FOMO.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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