cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/4448974

I’ve recently started using a self hosted SearXNG instance but I’m still using the search engines enabled by default (google, duckduckgo and qwant). What search engines do you have enabled or which ones do you feel you’ve gotten the best results with?

  • rizoid@midwest.socialEnglish
    12·
    10 months ago

    I can’t be bothered to self host a search engine. I just stick to duck duck go and I’ve tried some whoogle instances but I just prefer ddg at this point.

  • banazir@lemmy.ml
    11·
    10 months ago

    I’ve stuck with DuckDuckGo for years. It’s mostly gotten pretty good if you search in English. Other languages can be iffy.

  • ccf@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    10 months ago

    SearXNG, it was fairly easy to get used to coming from duckduckgo because !! uses the same !bang search as ddg. (honestly !bang searches were the only thing keeping me on ddg)

    • Fisch@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I’m already using SearXNG. The point of my question is to find out what search engines I should enable in it.

      • ccf@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        10 months ago

        oh sorry, I guess my reading comprehension skills are a bit subpar

  • Reversed Cookie@feddit.de
    3·
    10 months ago

    DuckDuckyGo currently, it isn’t bad. I’m a bit mad that there is no opt out for “improving.duckduckgo.com”, but you can even turn off their Advertising .-. So in short DuckDuckGo is good for normal up to advanced users who wants privacy, if you wanna go extreme private you probaly want smth else.

  • Saki@monero.townEnglish
    3·
    10 months ago

    I just did some tests on DDG (sorry OP, not related to SearXNG). If you use it normally, they put a lot of images from URL like improving.duckduckgo.com/t/we?monitor=you&spying=secretly&id=etc (supposedly for improving DDG by gathering statistical blah blah). Their no-JavaScript version is much less invasive.

    Solution(s): 1) uBlock is highly recommended, 2) if possible disable JS, 3) try Tor Browser, which is just an anonymity version of Firefox

      • Saki@monero.townEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        Thanks, didn’t know LibreJS. Its concept is interesting. But there is a libre tracking JavaScript too. Besides, these tracking URLs on DDG are images (“web bugs”), not scripts. uBlock blocks these things on DDG already on its own.

        Noscript can easily disable JavaScript for specific domain(s). One can install this add-on (or if you use TB it’s already there by default). So if disabling JS partially or totally is acceptable, that’s one of the options for DDG.

  • Killercat103@infosec.pub
    3·
    10 months ago

    Presearch. I don’t care for the crypto features. (I already got Monero anyway) but the concept of a decentralized search engine is interesting.

  • TheSun@slrpnk.net
    2·
    10 months ago

    I used to use searx for a couple years but it got too unreliable where it would fail to load results all the time randomly. Tried DDG and consistently ended up having to manually switch to google after the results on DDG just weren’t good enough (think troubleshooting linux issues and stuff, DDG would never find the obscure answer in a forum but google would).

    Anyways, ofc the goal wasn’t to end up back at google so now I’ve been using startpage for the last few months and it seems to work great with no issues.

  • Saki@monero.townEnglish
    2·
    10 months ago

    uBlock + (MetaGer or Searx or DDG/html[no JS]), via Tor 24/7. Onion available. Individually, hit and miss. In total, good enough for me. While DDG is okay (the default search engine for Tor Browser, Tails), intuitively I don’t fully trust it. Its no-JS version is acceptable.

  • Saki@monero.townEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Sorry, this question was SearXNG specific, so MetaGer was irrelevant. I’ve never self-hosted it, but I’d say Brave. It’s supposed to have its own index (correct me if I’m wrong), so one can expect some diversity.

    As for DDG, there shouldn’t be any problems if used via SearXNG. In general, there are a few comments about DDG here: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-1164105.html and I quote:

    Negative:

    ~1-2 years back they collected data on which search results their users clicked on by default with their own link-forwarder. After some outcry they removed that. Their “privacy browser” allowed third party cookies by Microsoft to track their users because DDG made a deal with them without telling anyone. When it came out Gabriel Weinberg released some BS statements.

    Positive:

    DDG doesn’t even have a Linux browser, but I love their Android browser. The DDG search engine provides results that are quite fine