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What is DuckDuckGo Search Engine and How Does It Protect Your Privacy?

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When it’s come to Private Browsing, DuckDuckGo Search Engine comes first on the list. For a very long period of time, websites have been collecting user data so they can either sell the user data to third-party websites or use it for personalized advertising.

In today’s digital world, it’s becoming more important to protect your online privacy than surfing the search engine.

With the continuous dependence on technology, it’s becoming easier for companies to collect and analyze our personal information. The collected data are being used to target us with advertising, to influence our opinions, and even to be sold to third-party companies without our consent.

With data breaches, hacks, and cyber threats on the rise, it’s important to take steps to safeguard your personal information whenever you’re online.

That’s where the DuckDuckGo search engine comes in. Unlike other popular search engines such as Google & Bing, DuckDuckGo prioritizes user privacy by providing private search, no tracking, and encryption.

In this article, we’ll explore what is DuckDuckGo’s search engine and How It Protect Your Privacy, and how it can help protect your online privacy.

Table of Content:

What is DuckDuckGo?

DuckDuckGo was founded in 2008 by Gabriel Weinberg. It was designed with a focus on protecting the privacy of its users.

While using other browsers you might think about erasing your browsing history or deleting your cookies. However, you would have also seen the advertisement or ads on the websites which will be related to your previous search.

To solve the same issue DuckDuckGo as a Search Engine has become more popular because of its privacy protection and private search.

Private searches & encrypted search set DuckDuckGo apart from other search engines. DuckDuckGo as a search engine never store your search history or share it with any third parties.

DuckDuckGo also includes some additional features. (Bonus Features)

  • Language Customization + Location Customization
  • Customizable themes (Dark Theme is also included)
  • Shortcut keys.

4 Key Features for DuckDuckGo Search Engine

4-key-features-DuckDuckGo-search-engine

Let’s talk about the important features of the DuckDuckGo search engine which makes it different and unique from other search engines.

1. Search Shortcuts for DuckDuckGo Search Engine:

DuckDuckGo provides a variety of search shortcuts that allow users to easily search certain websites such as Wikipedia, YouTube, and Amazon. These shortcuts can help you save time and discover the information you’re looking for.

2. Advanced Search Syntax:

DuckDuckGo offers a variety of advanced search syntaxes, which can help you refine your search and obtain more relevant results.

Example: You can use quotes to search for a specific phrase.

  • “search term” Use this to do an exact-match search.
  • – Exclude a term or search phrase.
  • Site:yourwebsite.com “search term” will return all pages of your website.
  • –site:yourwebsite.com will remove and eliminate pages from a specific website from showing up in search results.
  • Add “ !safeon or !safeoff “ to turn on and off for safe search in the browser for that search.

3. Privacy Protection:

DuckDuckGo’s privacy features include encrypted searches, tracker blocking, and the ability to force websites to use an encrypted HTTPS connection. These elements contribute to the privacy and security of your search activity.

4. Smarter Search Results:

Smarter Search Results: Unlike some other search engines, DuckDuckGo does not personalize search results based on your previous searches or other personal information. This means you’re more likely to see a varied set of results that aren’t influenced by previous searches.

How DuckDuckGo Search Engine works?

DuckDuckGo has its own web crawler,  called the DuckDuckBot.

DuckDuckGo search results work similarly to any other search engine; it uses a crawler bot (named as DuckDuckBot) to crawl the pages and index the web pages. It also collects the search results from various sources such as Yahoo!, Google, Bing, and Wikipedia and display the relevant search according to your query.

However, it also offers various features that are designed to enhance user privacy, such as

1. Encrypted search
2. No Third-Party Trackers
3. No Stored Search History
4. No Advertisement

DuckDuckGo offers various search options and features that allow users to customize their search experience and find the information they need quickly and easily. Overall, DuckDuckGo prioritizes user privacy and offers a range of features and options to help users search the web more securely and efficiently.

How Does It Protect Your Privacy?

DuckDuckGo’s main selling point is its privacy policy. While other search engines collect user data to provide personalized ads, DuckDuckGo doesn’t. DuckDuckGo doesn’t even store any personal information, making it an excellent option for those who value their online privacy.

DuckDuckGo has several features that make it a private and secure search engine.

Here are some of the ways in which DuckDuckGo protects your privacy:

No Tracking: DuckDuckGo does not track your search history, nor does it collect any personal information about you.

Encryption: DuckDuckGo uses HTTPS encryption to protect your search queries from being intercepted by hackers or third-party websites.

Privacy: DuckDuckGo assigns a privacy grade to each website in its search results. This grade indicates how well the website protects your privacy.

No Personalized Results: DuckDuckGo does not personalize your search results based on your previous searches or browsing history.

DuckDuckGo Deep Web Search Engine

Deep Web search results refer to the part of the internet which are not indexed in the search engine or has been banned from indexing in traditional search engines such as Google, Bing, etc. They contain websites that can be accessed by private networks, password-protected websites, or any other types of content that are not meant to access by the public.

As we have known DuckDuckGo crawl and indexes the pages using a crawler, So “DuckDuckGo” can’t access the “deep web” search engines.

The Tor Network is a network server where you can access the deep web: allowing users to browse the internet anonymously and access the websites that have been blocked or censored by any particular country.

Install DuckDuckGo in Google Chrome Extension

DuckDuckGo Extension is available in Google Chrome Web Store you can add the extension in your Chrome Browser.

How to Install DuckDuckGo Chrome Extension:

  1. Open the Google Chrome browser and go to Google Chrome Web Store.
  2. Search for DuckDuckGo in the Google web store. (Here is the link for the Direct DuckDuckGo extension)
  3. Click on the “Add to Chrome” button.
  4. A pop-up will appear, Click on the “Add Extension” button to confirm the installation.
  5. You can see your DuckDuckGo icon appear in your Chrome toolbar.
  6. When you install the DuckDuckGo extension, It will become your default Search Engine.

DuckDuckGo Search Browser is also a free Privacy Browser both for IOS and Android.

How to Make DuckDuckGo the Default Search Engine

make-duckduckgo-search-engine-default

You can make the DuckDuckGo your Default Search Engine without adding any extensions.

Here are the following steps you can follow to make DuckDuckGo your Default Search Engine:

How to Make DuckDuckGo Search EngineDefault For Google Chrome

  1. Click on the three-dot menu located in the top-right corner of your Chrome browser.
  2. Select “Settings” from the drop-down.
  3. Click the “Search engine” section.
  4. Click on “Manage search engines and site search”
  5. Under “Other search engines,” find DuckDuckGo and click on the three-dot menu located next to it.
  6. Select “Make default” from the drop-down.

Mozilla Firefox:

  1. Click on the three-line menu located in the top-right corner of your Firefox Browser.
  2. Select “Options” from the drop-down menu.
  3. In the left sidebar, click on “Search.”
  4. Under “Default Search Engine,” select “DuckDuckGo” from the drop-down menu.

Microsoft Edge:

  1. Click on the three-dot menu located in the top-right corner of your Edge Browser.
  2. Select “Settings” from the drop-down menu.
  3. In the left sidebar, click on “Privacy, search, and Services.”
  4. Under “Services,” click on the “Address bar and search.”
  5. Click on “Manage search engines.”
  6. Find DuckDuckGo and click on the three-dot menu located next to it.
  7. Select “Set as default” from the drop-down menu.

Wrapping Up

We hope this article has helped you to get a better idea of the DuckDuckGo and how to protect your privacy. Most importantly, we hope you’ve succeeded in explaining how to safeguard your personal information while browsing the internet.

With Seoenv, We can help you optimize your website and improve your rankings on DuckDuckGo Search Engine, leading to increased visibility and potential growth for your business. Get in touch with us or fill out our Contact Us form today to learn how Seoenv can help you achieve your goals and take your business to the next level.

To sum up, online privacy has become a critical issue in today’s world. Companies collecting and analyzing personal information for advertising and selling it to third parties, it’s important to protect our personal data whenever we’re online. That’s where the DuckDuckGo search engine comes in.

Download the DuckDuckGo search engine extension or set it as your default search engine today and take control of your online privacy. Protect yourself from data breaches, hacks, and cyber threats by making the switch to DuckDuckGo now!

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