• ripcord@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    DuckDuckGo is obviously better for privacy for example but it doesn’t seem to have any ambition except to deliver the same results as Google but without the ads

    I don’t think duckduckgo has ANY control over improving the search results. Except maybe switching to a different engine.

    • micka190@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Pretty much. The reason Google’s search results were so good was because of the information they had on you and on other users who made similar searches. I’m not advocating for DDG to start tracking users, though. But it’ll be hard for them to have a “Google-like” search experience (single search bar with no other parameters) without that kind of data.

      • SokathHisEyesOpen@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        I completely disagree. Their results have started decreasing in value and accuracy the more they tie them into their profile of you. Google was most useful when it showed you what you searched for. Many of the problems with their results now stem from it showing you what it thinks you want, rather than showing you what you asked for. The rest of the problem is it showing you what is profitable, rather than what you asked for.

      • pewter@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Google immediately jumped ahead in search when it started by having a simple webpage and using PageRank. This was a while before there were even Gmail accounts and all the tracking we’re given now.

        At this point I’d settle for a search company that doesn’t care to track you, uses general (not specific) predictive search, implements Boolean search, and isn’t diminished in quality by SEO.

        That last criterion is the hardest one. It might not even be feasible.