This means someone can see everything you’ve been searching, not just one isolated search. Also, note that with this information your searches can be tied together. With the additional account information, they are associated directly with you. Along with this information, it also keeps the date and time of the search, some information about your computer such as its IP address, and if you are logged in, your account information (including your name and email address).Īs DuckDuckGo explains, with only a timestamp and computer information, your searches can often be traced directly to you.

Other search engines, chief among them Google, save your search history. Since its start, the company’s privacy policy has been a simple one: “We don’t collect or share personal information.” Your activity while in Incognito mode can still be tracked and identified by search engines, so DuckDuckGo is a better choice for avoiding the limitations of that browser setting.Now the home to over 1 billion searches per month, DuckDuckGo was founded in 2008, not in Silicon Valley, but Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

It's also worth noting that DuckDuckGo is substantially more private than using Google with your web browser's InPrivate or Incognito mode. That makes the search engine a good choice for users trying to perform research on a topic that's easily influenced by political or cultural bias. DuckDuckGo provides the exact same search results to all users, rather than customizing your results based on your previous search history or personal preferences. DuckDuckGo, however, has a policy of not tracking its users – it doesn't collect personal information, use cookies, or capture your computer's IP address.īecause DuckDuckGo doesn't create a user profile, that means using DuckDuckGo helps you escape the 'filter bubble' created by other search engines. Much of this information is provided to advertisers or passed on to other websites. Google and other common search tools (like Bing and Yahoo, for example) capture a lot of information about you when you perform a search.

Though most people tend to use Google for web searches, DuckDuckGo is an alternative search engine that is favored by users who want to preserve their online privacy.

Duck duck go search bar