Warning long ass reply incoming.
I'm skipping class this morning and I have something to prove. I did a series of searches of the exact same keywords using Google and DuckDuckGo on my phone. First: "fma03".
First thing of note: I used an acronym instead of spelling out the name. Google makes a decision as to what I intended to search for and omits anything unrelated to the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist anime series, and chooses to bombard me with Reddit hot takes as the top result.
DuckDuckGo's first result is for a particular kind of face milling cutter, something I didn't know existed until just now. It also shows me some amino acids. WHAT THIS MEANS: given a string of characters that can and does represent multiple meanings (anime show abbreviation vs tool part vs amino acids), Google will decide which one it thinks you care about and show you only that. DDG will show you everything.
(Also of note: Google specifically really wanted to show me reddit threads of people comparing it to Brotherhood, which was not in my search at all.)
This means that if I want to know about Fullmetal Alchemist 2003, I need to be specific:
The results are more comparable this time, although Google (first screenshot) gives me ratings and reviews and a synopsis whereas DuckDuckGo (second screenshot) gives more objective information about its production and creation. Google is, frankly, trying a lot harder to sell and/or make me react strongly to content rather than just supplying the requested information.
(Side note: Google's insistence that abbreviations and acronyms Must Only Stand For One Thing are to thank for one of my favorite search results-- HOW MANY GIRLFRIENDS ARE IN FF8)
(Sadly DDG does not replace GFs with Girlfriends because it does not predict intent behind words or re-write results for you.)
I went to replicate this again by searching "ToS Speedrun". Google predicted I meant Tales of Symphonia; DuckDuckGo gave me any speedrun that used "TOS" as an acronym. Switched to "Tales of Symphonia speedrun," the main results are more similar, however once I scrolled a little by the end of the page Google decided it actually wanted to show me unrelated shit about Sonic and Baten Kaitos (this is still on the FIRST PAGE of Google, I guarantee you we have not exhausted Tales of Symphonia speedrun related content on the internet):
DuckDuckGo on the other hand even after clicking "show more results" still has not shown me anything that isn't related to the tales series:
Now then, changing gears. I decide to search for "chuudaiko" which is a specific kind of drum in taiko.
Google is like "oh, that term is related to taiko. Let's act as if you had searched for taiko instead":
DuckDuckGo reads that I searched for "chuudaiko" and gives me results accordingly (notably the first result is the same but the results after differ drastically):
I'm out of images but if I keep scrolling Google shows me a ton of instagram and pinterest and DuckDuckGo shows a lot more blogs and articles that are actually what I asked about.
- Google makes assumptions about acronyms without telling you or asking you to clarify and only shows results pertaining to what it assumes you intended to ask. This makes it more convenient as you don't have to be intentional with your searches, provided you are in fact asking what it thinks you are.
- Google will also disproportionately bombard you with reddit, instagram, and pinterest, as well as mix in related topics to your results in addition to what you actually searched.
- DuckDuckGo makes no assumptions and will give you what you asked for. You need to be specific. If you are, you are much more likely to find the information or content you seek.
It often helps to cross reference both when you're not getting anywhere because sometimes Google replacing terms with other terms gives you new search terms to then put into DDG for more accurate results. But I have DDG as my default search engine now and boy has my life been less of a headache since.
Oh and use DDG to pirate shit, Google hides results but they're still there :)