Google alternatives: A little privacy, please!
Recently, I heard a T.V. news commentator say, “Everything you ever need to know is on Google.” If that’s where he gets most of his information, it’s easy to see why the industry is in so much trouble, but I’ll leave that discussion for another day. For now, judging from reader response, it’s clear that many of you are looking for something more, so here’s the latest installment in my series on Google alternatives.
This time the focus is on so-called privacy-based search engines. These products claim that, unlike Google, they don’t collect your data or personalize your searches. I usually use DuckDuckGo for this purpose, but I’ve recently found a few more, and it’s always a good idea to add variety to your searches:
StartPage – From Ixquick, this site uses Google search and then adds a layer of privacy by not logging your visit, recording your IP address, or adding tracking cookies. The image, video, and advanced searches help target your queries.
Gibiru – For uncensored, unpersonalized, anonymous web and news searching, this site also offers several features for accessing blocked content and services. Reading their “Why you should care” section might make you a bit paranoid, though.
Search Encrypt – In addition to not tracking personal information, Search Encrypt also uses encryption technology to make sure your history remains private from others who may access your computer. I found fewer results for many of my test searches, although some were not found through other sources.
As I mentioned, these are fairly new to me, so my experiences searching with them are limited. So, let me know if you have any opinions – good or bad. Also, are there any others to add to this list of privacy-based Google alternatives?
Interesting, thank you.
I rarely use google these days, I find Bing more intelligent with searches I do, I find what I need quicker. Nearly everyone I know uses Bing as their preferred search engine now, (we’re UK based) but I don’t know about the privacy side though so will be looking that up!
Thanks, Tania! I didn’t know that Bing was so popular there. I always use it when I need multiple search engines, and I sometimes find something that I didn’t find elsewhere, but I’m not sure I’d use it as my primary search engine. Wondering if the UK version is different from what I’m using here?
Thanks Marcy for you article. Very insightful to getting out of the Google box. Although not a search engine, I did stumble across this neat site last week that I wanted to share and I found it extremely helpful in locating people: “Nuwber.com”
Thanks, Troy! I will definitely check out Nuwber. It’s a new one to me.
Thanks for sharing this!
Thanks for reading!
duckduckgo is also a very good alternative to google
Thanks, Daniel! DuckDuckGo is my go-to search engine for privacy.
I definitely think people should use private search engines. It’s one of the best ways to keep your searches private from other users on your computer, other people on your network, and your ISP. This article (https://choosetoencrypt.com/search-engines/duckduckgos-biggest-privacy-flaw/) points out a few of the issues associated with DuckDuckGo that other search engines on this list don’t have. DuckDuckGo is still worlds ahead of Google as far as privacy goes, but people should still recognize these few issues.
Thank you for explaining the issues with DuckDuckGo.
[…] on location and previous searches, so try going undercover. Try a search engine that cares about privacy. You can also use your browser’s incognito mode, or play around with your VPN’s country […]