Unable to decide whether to leave the comforts of Google Chrome and switch to DuckDuckGo as the default browsing option? Well, of course, privacy is what you would primarily do it for, however, if “How exactly would it benefit me?” is on your mind, this article will help you make an informed decision.
With close to 10 Billion searches per year now, DuckDuckGo has surely come a long way since 2008 and despite only being able to own less than 3 percent of the market share, has made its mark in the online search industry, so much so that, whether or not you have switched to it for browsing, you must have been hearing a lot about it for quite some time now.
So, let’s decode privacy & its advantages that DuckDuckGo and its founders feel very strongly about and have waged no less than a war for it against the search juggernaut – Google.
1. Uniform Results – Information As It Is
Searching for the same information by 2 different people may bring up different results on Google search, depending on your browsing history and behavior. Since DuckDuckGo does not store any browsing history of users, the search results are 100 percent uniform and straight to the point, which a lot of users & critics have felt being very helpful.
2. Victim of Data Breach – Ney, Never!
Going the DuckDuckGo way can surely save you from any possible data breaches that we have seen happening in the recent past. Since they don’t have any of your personal data, there is no risk of it being leaked at all.
3. Security = Peace of Mind
Data such as your browsing history might seem insignificant to you at a glance, but is very powerful and just 30 days of your browsing history can accurately predict your age, gender, income group, where do you live, work, frequently eat, political inclination, current mental state, etc. Imagine this getting into the wrong hands. Yes, it’s scary. Browsing with DuckDuckGo can give you the peace of mind when it comes to feeling secure with your online banking, trading, and other such extremely important activities you carry out on the internet by blocking tracking cookies, never storing your IP address or similar private information and encrypting your queries.
4. Ad Free Browsing
DuckDuckGo doesn’t bombard you with intrusive Ads based on your past internet activities. It does however show ads based purely on keywords you searched, but this can be turned off from Settings and a pure, 100 percent ad free searching can be experienced with DuckDuckGo.
5. No Binge Shopping – Save Money
Google Remarketing – a technique that helps advertisers follow you anywhere you go on the internet after you’ve visited a website or searched for a product actually results in unnecessary purchases. More often than not, you do end up buying things that you don’t really need. Searching something on the internet should simply offer you the information, and DuckDuckGo does exactly that.
6. True Personal Space
Every one of us wants some personal space – isn’t it? Well that’s true when it comes to browsing internet as well. Imagine every action of yours being recorded every moment of your life. That’s exactly what search engines such as Google do to your virtual life (life on the internet). Unlike Google, where you are tracked even if browsing in the private mode (why call it private then?), DuckDuckGo offers you that true personal space, where you can browse truly privately.
7. Better Control of Your Searches
What you search should be focused more on the information you are looking for and not be pocket friendly to the advertisers. DuckDuckGo does that really well, and better than any search engine out there right now.
8. Cross Device Data Protection
With DuckDuckGo being available for your Android and iPhone, the private data security (if you really care about it) is available to users at an enhanced level. Our phone stays with us all the times and records every move, not just the browsing history. DuckDuckGo gives you detailed information on what all a website is trying to track about you and let’s you control and block such websites across all your devices.
9. Contribute to the Cause
If you are for “Internet & Digital Privacy“, and believe that it should be the way of the future, using DuckDuckGo is a must and each of your tracking free search query will mark your contribution to the cause.
10. Find it Out for Yourself :)
Privacy is very subjective and can be perceived differently by all of us. Let us know what it means to you by adding a comment below, and we might feature an article with the top fifty suggestions, titled – “50 Practical Privacy Benefits of DuckDuckGo”
Mike Matthews says
Yes thanks. I am concerned about being tracked and having a data breach. Many if not most of us are not familiar with how to protect ourselves correctly. I am feeling relieved that you do.
Most grateful, Mike