Why I use DuckDuckGo (and it is not just about privacy)

Most people who use DuckDuckGo talk about privacy. And yes, DuckDuckGo does not track you, does not build a profile on you, and does not sell your data. That matters. But privacy is not why I stayed. I stayed because of bangs.

Bangs are the killer feature

A bang is a shortcut that searches a specific site directly from the DuckDuckGo search bar. Type !gh tailwindcss and you go straight to GitHub search results for "tailwindcss." Type !npm express and you land on npm's search page for "express."

There are over 13,000 bangs. Some I use daily:

• !gh searches GitHub
• !npm searches npm
• !mdn searches Mozilla Developer Network
• !so searches Stack Overflow
• !yt searches YouTube
• !w searches Wikipedia
• !g searches Google (for when you actually want Google results)
• !maps opens Google Maps
• !r searches Reddit
• !aw searches Arch Wiki

The !g bang is the escape hatch. If DuckDuckGo's results are not good enough for a particular query, add !g and you get Google results without switching browsers or bookmarks.

Instant answers

DuckDuckGo shows useful information directly in search results without clicking through. Search for "css flexbox" and you get a cheat sheet. Search for a color hex code and you see a color preview. Search for "html table" and you get syntax examples.

For programming queries, these instant answers save a click 30% of the time.

No SEO spam

Google's results have gotten noticeably worse for technical queries. The first page is often dominated by content farms, AI-generated filler, and sites that exist purely for ad revenue. DuckDuckGo's results feel less gamed, though they use Bing's index so the quality varies.

For technical searches specifically, the combination of DuckDuckGo's results plus bangs to jump to specific sites (MDN, GitHub, Stack Overflow) is faster than scrolling through Google's cluttered results page.

The clean interface

No "People also ask" boxes taking up half the page. No "related searches" pushing actual results below the fold. No AI-generated summaries you did not ask for. DuckDuckGo shows you search results. That is it.

You can also customize the appearance (dark theme, font size, region) without signing into an account.

Setting it up

Set DuckDuckGo as your default search engine in your browser settings. That is the only step. The bangs work from the browser's address bar, so you do not need to visit duckduckgo.com first.

In Vivaldi: Settings > Search > Default Search Engine > DuckDuckGo

When I use Google

Google is still better for local business searches ("restaurants near me") and for very recent news. Google Maps is better than anything DuckDuckGo offers for navigation. For these I use the !g and !maps bangs.

For everything else, DuckDuckGo with bangs is a faster, cleaner experience. The privacy is a bonus.

Sources

• DuckDuckGo
• DuckDuckGo Bangs