this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2023
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Privacy

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Two minutes of DuckDuckGo rearranging & dropping results for the same search; Bing, Startpage, & DDG all unreliable vs. Google :( (files.catbox.moe)
submitted 2 years ago by brbposting@sh.itjust.works to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
18 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Try it with this search:

an entire block of smash car windows

I’ll have to test Searx, Grasp, & Kagi. Right now I start with DDG and bang out to Google (append !g to my DDG search) at least half the time.

So note to DDG devs: those Google bang searches had results that left me disaPPOINTED!

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[–] Illecors@lemmy.cafe 35 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I get the same issue all the time lately. Search, click link, go back - clicked link gone, different results shown.

[–] akilou@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I get this but never clicked link gone. Rearranged or added results.

[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Yep same here

[–] Akasazh@feddit.nl 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I always use mousewheeldown click nowadays, it opens the link in a new tab.

Also mwd on the tabs themselves close the tab (without needing to hit the tiny cross).

Changed the way I browse

[–] Illecors@lemmy.cafe 3 points 2 years ago

That's what I do on the desktop, but on mobile there's no quick way to open a new tab.

[–] Tum@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I am not a search engine engineer.

Here are some things it might be though:

It could be that the results you see first are cached on their servers, and expiring from that cache between your searches. however usually when something requested is pulled from a cache, the items lifespan in the cache is usually refreshed so it lives a bit longer.

It could be that certain they are NOT cached at all, and certain sites are rate limiting the DDG crawler hitting them and returning info to you, so DDG takes them out of the results as they cannot confirm the site is alive. I noticed reddit disappeared from the results and we all know about Reddit and their APIs here.

It could also be their ranking algorithm for results is not as deterministic as they want it to be, it could also be that way by design. Page ranking is a closely guarded trade secret, especially at big places like Google. DDG results will never match 1:1 with Google. Personally, I prefer DDGs results to Google.

[–] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 years ago

Excellent analysis. Caching came to mind for me as well. Thank you for the interesting speculation!

[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago

Can anyone explain what happened DDG? They used to have very objective searching and now it is really targeted, which they claim they don't do.

For example if I search a random term or product I will get a niche buy and sell website that only serves my country and with results from my immediate region. I do disable the location functionality and it just stays the same or switches them up but they're there close to the top.

[–] jvrava9@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I settled on SearXNG

[–] Rootiest@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I LOVE searxng!

I will never go back to any basic old search engine again.

[–] Facebones@reddthat.com 2 points 2 years ago

I'm going to have to look into spinning a container later, sounds cool.

[–] vengefulpunk@supernova.place 2 points 2 years ago

I am going to give SearXNG a try myself. It looks promising. I hadn't heard of it before today, but I am setting up a container for it now.

[–] lautan@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Are you hosting it yourself?

[–] jvrava9@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Did not get to doing that yet, here's a tutorial if you want to.

[–] lautan@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I think setting up a docker container would be easier no?

[–] Rootiest@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I am if you have any questions

[–] lautan@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago

Are you running this through docker?

[–] KarnaSubarna@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago

If possible, self-host SearxNG using Docker/Podman to avoid all of these.