Google is such an ingrained part of our lives, it wouldn’t even cross the minds of most of us to stop using it. I know I resisted! But I hope this article at least gives you food for thought that maybe its time to change. My recommendation is DuckDuckGo.

As concisely as I can, I will both state my case and step you through making the change.

I’ll invite you now to please leave a comment with any counter-suggestions you may have, and why you favour that instead.

If you want to switch and don’t need to read the article, click here to jump to the instructions.

Why Switch to DuckDuckGo?

I’m guessing many of you will have seen The Social Dilemma by now. If you haven’t, what are you waiting for? It’s wonderful light family viewing! Not really, lol. It’s actually quite scary!

Of course, years earlier, the book The Filter Bubble, by Eli Pariser opened a lot of people’s eyes.

In a nutshell, as most of us are all too aware, the data from our search history makes us a commodity. And when it comes to Google and most other search engines, the results we see when we search, are based on our previous search history. And everything on Facebook is geared towards making us want to buy stuff!

Of course, the ramifications are all too apparent. Liberal and Conservative friends and family members see completely different results, so each gets entrenched in their views, and potentially polarized from each other. Even people in different locations see different results!

But don’t you want more complete search results? Do you want your past searches to limit your future search results? And do you really want everything you search for to be commoditized?

Don’t kid yourselves that this is nothing to do with business, because it is! All of your search history predicates your search results. It’s just that we only notice the ones where we can’t figure out why some people believe what they do, or relationships are strained to breaking point!

The DuckDuckGo Interface (and How Can It Make Money?)

I’ll be perfectly honest with you that DuckDuckGo is no frills. You get what you’re looking for in the most matter-of-fact manner. It’s like finding great food in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. The results are what you’d hope for, but there’s little apparent priority given to prettying up the presentation.

I wondered how it can make money, and this article from TechJunkie explains it.

Quick No Thinking Guide To Switching

I switched over 3 browsers on my Mac, plus Safari on my iPhone. I’d hope these tips will at least help you if you use PC or Android, or any other systems.

Mac Browsers

If what you use isn’t here, I hope these tips help you to narrow down how to intuit what to do.

Chrome

You see the 3 dots all the way to the right of your search/url box?

Either, click them, or click Chrome -> Preferences. You’ll be taken to a new tab for settings. Click on ‘Search engine’ and you’ll see this.

I’ve already set mine. To set yours, click the arrow.

Firefox

You have the same two choices:

Click on Firefox -> Preferences. (You could click on the 3 lines to the right, but it’s an additional step):

Now click ‘Search’

Could hardly be easier, right?

Opera

This also has 3 lines to the right, but that also requires an additional step. So just go the dropdown route: Opera -> Preferences. It takes you to the Settings page. Scroll most of the way down the page, and you’ll see this:

Even easier!

iPhone

This is nowhere near as difficult as some will fear – at least for Safari. I did check for Chrome, and not altogether unsurprisingly, if there is a way of changing the browser, it isn’t as easy as the following!)

Go into your Settings. Click on Safari. This is the screen that you’ll see.

Mine has already been switched. Chances are, yours is set to Google, which is Apple’s default. Touch the arrow and select from the mini-dropdown. Done!

In Closing

One further point, in case you’re sceptical (that’s skeptical in the USA). Of course, no matter what you do now, people already know far more about you than you’re probably comfortable with. But does that mean you should never take even partial control of what you see when you search?

I’m always interested in reading people’s thoughts, but for this article, I’m even more so. PLEASE let me and your fellow readers know your thoughts on privacy. Do you think it’s too late to take at least some control back, or do you agree that it’s never too late? Did you switch and, if so, did you find my instructions helpful or lacking?

You may also want to read: 6 Ways To Optimize Your Site For The Google Page Experience Update

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Andy Capaloff

Andy Capaloff is the COO of Curatti. Prior to moving into the world of Content Marketing, Social Media Management and the day-to-day running of a Digital Marketing company, Andy spent over 3 decades in various aspects of IT. It is here that he honed his writing and technical skills, and his ability to ask uncommon questions.

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