Switch to a Privacy-First Search Engine
Google makes the vast majority of it’s money selling online advertisements. The Google Search engine is designed to help you find what you are looking for, as well as facilitate selling online ads which also involves finding out what you’re interested in by tracking what you look at online.
Switching to a privacy-first search engine can reduce the amount of personal data you give to Google and through them to advertisers.
Here are some privacy focused search engine alternatives:
- DuckDuckGo: Is a privacy-focused alternative to Google, and is a US-based search engine that draws on over 400 sources (including Bing and Yahoo) plus its own indexing. DuckDuckGo doesn’t share any personal information with any of the sources they use to provide you with search results.
- Qwant: Is a well-established privacy-focused search engine based in France that touts itself as a European alternative to Google. According to Qwant’s privacy policy, it doesn’t target you with ads or keep your search history. Qwant doesn’t use tracking cookies or build personal profiles. You do see ads, but they’re based on your search terms, not a personal profile.
Changing Default Search Engine
- Open your preferred browser
- Open the browser’s Settings
- Find the Search engine settings
- In the Search Engine box, click Change
- Select a Search Engine and click Set as Default (In this example, we have set it to DuckDuckGo)
- Your searches will now use DuckDuckGo instead of your previous default search engine
- Open a new browser tab and enter a search into the address bar
- Search for something you are interested in, such as a movie, recipe, or hobby
- Look through the search results
- Try another search using the same topic
Think about it
- What search engine did you use before this activity?
- Did you notice anything different about the search results?
- How often do you use a search engine without thinking about which company is collecting information about your searches?
Why does this matter?
Privacy-first search engines such as DuckDuckGo and Qwant are designed to reduce the amount of personal information collected from your searches.
Changing your default search engine is a simple way to reduce the amount of information that can be used to build a profile about your interests and online activity.
Congratulations! You’ve taken another step toward protecting your digital privacy.