A search engine is a software tool that crawls and indexes website content into large databases and then searches that data in response to user queries. The most common type of a user query is done through a web browser software tool, where the user searches for information through the browser that passes the query to the search engine and then provides the results for the user.
Some of the more popular search engines are Google, Bing and Yahoo. As mentioned in our post 8 Timeless SEO Tips For Your Website, there are several other search engines that are unbiased, unfiltered and uncensored with privacy. We also recommend utilizing a VPN, which we’ll elaborate on in future posts.
The amount of data collected, analyzed and/or sold is astronomical. User information is used to determine trends or patterns as they target and learn the user for marketing and other forms of analysis or monetization. Imagine all your search results compiled and analyzed. How much would they know about you? How do you think that could be used in marketing? In addition to tracking user information, search engines are also censoring the results when controversial.
If you’re looking for unbiased and uncensored results with greater privacy, there are options available. We recommend utilizing a browser such as Firefox, as it will allow for you to reconfigure the default search engine with additional privacy options. Some search engines offer add-on extensions for the browser, or as an alternative you can add the search engine address as your browsers homepage.
Here are 7 alternative search engines to consider for research, privacy and/or uncensored results.
Presearch
Presearch (presearch.org) aims to end the tech giants monopoly and will very likely succeed. They are a community-powered, decentralized search engine that delivers results while protecting privacy. They are taking an interesting approach by building a framework that enables individuals from around the world to collaborate and expand their decentralized search engine. This looks to be very promising, and so far we’re quite pleased with their results. For more details, we highly recommend reading about Presearch. Some browsers allow for you to manually add search engines, by entering the name, shortcut, and the query URL [ https://www.presearch.com/?q=%s ].
Gibiru
Gibiru (gibiru.com) has been around since 2009. They are well known for privacy, offering anonymous and uncensored search results. They have an mobile app available and offer browser add-on extensions for re-configuring the default search engine. The search results offer a separate section for censored results, which can be useful when researching information, especially anything controversial. There are no advertisements or news feeds on their search page, which is nice for those wanting to avoid such. This can also be manually added with the following query URL[ https://gibiru.com/results.html?q=%s ].
Mojeek
Mojeek (mojeek.com) is an independent search engine that has been around for 15 years, with a strong emphasis on privacy. They do no tracking (or profiling) and focus on putting people first while providing unbiased search results. They have grown dramatically during the tech giants censorship era and become a top favorite search engine for many. Their search page is free from advertisements or news which is a nice feature. They have a mobile app as well. Here is a quick reference for configuring Mojeek with the Firefox browser as the default search engine. This can also be manually added with the following query URL [ https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=%s ].
MetaGer
MetaGer (metager.org) is a private search engine that does not save or sell your user data. They are non-profit and do not track any information. They protect against censorship, making them equally great for research. They are open source and completely transparent in their algorithms. They have a mobile app available as well as a browser plugin for configuring the browsers default search engine.
DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo (duckduckgo.com) has become quite popular in recent years, likely because they are built in as one of the default search engines to configure for several browsers and devices. They claim to be good on privacy as they do not track user data. They offer private search with encryption. However, there have been some concerns regarding censorship, especially more recently, which was a similar issue with Startpage.Qwant
Qwant (qwant.com) is a french search engine that was launched in 2013 with their own indexing engine. They respect privacy and do not track user data or filter web searches. One of the things they point out is there is no behavioral profiling. They also have mobile apps and browser extensions available. They do list some news feeds below the search bar, which is less ideal if you’re wanting to avoid looking at news updates. This can also be manually added with the following query URL [ https://www.qwant.com/?q=%s ].
Yippy
Yippy (yippy.com) was out several years ago and is coming back in the summer of 2024. They were known to be good on privacy and to not censor search results. It’s a great alternative for comparative research and analysis.
In summary, these are a few of the many options available. As you compare your search results, it will help you determine the ones that best suit your needs. Happy searching!
