Not because DDG got better, but just because google got worse.

google is still better for site-specific searches, and google scholar still has minimal AI slop

  • venotic@kbin.melroy.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    59
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    2 days ago

    Not really. If you focus purely on just searching, yeah DDG is decent. But, I find its maps inferior and trying to find answers to some questions can get tedious. DDG I guess is just for people who want guilt-free searching.

        • adarza@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 day ago

          yes, it is. but between it and graphhopper (or osm), it’s “enough” for me.

          i don’t need a feature-filled “app” (my phone is ‘dumb’), and the only time i end up on something else like bing or google maps is if a site i need to use embeds and relies upon them.

          • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            21 hours ago

            my problem with apple maps is how frequently it has something’s location completely wrong because osm addresses use the European addressing system everywhere when i don’t live in europe

            • Luc@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              17 hours ago

              OpenStreetMap contributor here. What address format isn’t supported? Maybe I can help

              • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                15 hours ago

                United States format is very different from the european format and often the apple maps algorithm makes some boneheaded assuptions to translate from a US address to something OSM understands. i contribute, too, but the next time i have an example of apple maps fucking up… i’ll have already forgot this convo happened, but i’ll try

        • Xanthobilly@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          2 days ago

          Agreed. Even if it were identical to Google maps in terms of content, it runs slower on all platforms I’ve so far tried (windows, iOS, OSX).

  • BaumGeist@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    2 hours ago

    Yes, I switched back in 2023 and noticed it was already better than google.

    All major search engines feel like they’re either filled with AI slop results, or just only returning major corporations’ sites anymore, though. DDG just falls into the latter, while Google is mostly the former.

  • slomosapien@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 days ago

    100%. I have not used google in about roughly 15 years. DDG has been my daily driver since 2010

    • makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      37 minutes ago

      I just typed “african mouse” into both bing, and ddg. I got EXACTLY the same results. Which I kind of expected . Same order, everything. However, my understanding is, that DDG obfuscates the user, and doesn’t track. This is my hope, and why I use it.

  • toastal@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 day ago

    No. DDG still puts less priority in small blogs over Reddit posts. All bigger search engines put way too much stock & rank in corpo social media.

  • tfm@europe.pub
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 hour ago

    I like DDG a lot more, especially because of the bang shortcuts. But I transitioned recently to Qwant. It also has bang shortcuts and is hosted in Europe.

  • Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    14 hours ago

    I really agree Google just took themself out of the market. I wouldn’t be surprised if they dropped their “search” product completely, the way they’ve dropped a lot of other good products along the way.

  • JackLSauce@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    26
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 days ago

    “just as good”? No, I feel it is (and has been for years) vastly superior but I mostly use it to find documentation or Stack Overflow answers so consistent UI and concise summaries are high priority to me. Take that as you will

    I don’t think anybody can dethrone Google Maps yet but that’s another story

    • JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 day ago

      I don’t think anybody can dethrone Google Maps

      I wonder how the whole “AI is more important than copyright” thing could play into this… Someone could totally program an “AI” map assistant right?

  • breadguy@kbin.earth
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    2 days ago

    kagi still owns both of them. but there’s also startpage and leta which are google wrappers if you don’t want to use Google directly

  • HouseWolf@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    5 hours ago

    I’ve been using DDG since 2016 and never felt it was worse in terms of “search quality” than Google.

    Especially nowadays I hear friends whine near weekly about Google, but it’s still somehow “better than DDG”.

    Honestly people just make excuses not to change what they’re use to. Even if what they’re used to has changed around them for the worse.

    My only real complain I have is I wish ‘search by date range’ was less finicky use and also worked in the image tab like it does in Google images.

  • sanderium@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 days ago

    I use Startpage and it feels like I always get the results I want even when I don’t use perfect prompts. Just recently I got a three month free trial for Kagi and the results were better than google in my opinion, or at least less cluttered with “possibly related things” that are just ads in the end.

    • franzfurdinand@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 day ago

      I switched to exclusively Kagi on my phone and it’s been a pretty pleasant experience. Not perfect, but fairly serviceable. You’re right, it’s way less cluttered. Going back to Google can sometimes be very jarring.