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DuckDuckGo is a hybrid search engine, which does not track its users.
It has become my default search engine. The more I use it, the more I love it. Although at times I reverse back to Google I realize that is more of a habit.
In fact, DuckDuckGo offers quality results. Also, at times, the results I get from DuckDuckGo are more interesting from the ones I get through Google.
Use bangs!
Trying out DuckDuckGo but want a safety net?
Add !b to your query to search directly on Bing, or !a for Amazon, or !w for Wikipedia, etc. pic.twitter.com/YQiFvndF9w— DuckDuckGo (@duckduckgo) August 10, 2017
First, bangs. In short, by inserting a website in the search bar anticipated by “!” it will give me back the page of that website with all the results for what I’m looking. For instance, I inserted in DuckDuckGo search box !tc ;DuckDuckGo where tc stands for tech crunch followed by >DuckDuckGo. m>;In short, I’m saying to look for all the info about DuckDuckGo contained in Tech Crunch,
I will land on a page within the target website which is a sort of search or category page,
Another exciting feature is the instant answers. Since the beginning, Gabriel Weinberg focused his effort on providing answers to users’ questions. What today we know as a featured snippet on Google. Is DuckDuckGo instant answer more efficient than Google’s featured snippet?
Get Instant Answers
The future of search is more and more about answers. Also with the advent of voice search, people will be talking more often with their websites and looking for relevant answers. In short, the time in which search engines matched keywords is slowly going to end. Gabriel Weinberg understood back in 2008 that answers were supposed to be the primary purpose of a search engine. When humans look for something, pose questions (even though Google taught us to think of keywords).
The answers coming from DuckDuckGo are called instant answers and come from various sources (they say over 400 in total).
You type in a question, DuckDuckGo matches and trigger the answer,
Source: docs.duckduckhack.com
That is how you get the answer you were looking for!
Get a Social media bio
Let’s say you want to get more info about a social media account, like twitter trough the search engine. You can search for the twitter handle like I did below:
Here another example. That is DuckDuckGo founder and CEO, which I suggest you follow.
Shorten and expand links
When sharing a link, it would be nice to shorten it to make it more appealing. You can quickly do that with DuckDuckGo.
For instance, I typed “shorten fourweekmba.com/duckduckgo-vs-google,”
I generated a short link. Let’s say I want to reverse the process. Therefore, I want to expand it again.
Type “expand https://is.gd/UGmtYi” and get the expanded link again.
Generate passwords
Generating passwords too is pretty simple. Have DuckDuckGo create a password for you. You can also decide the length of the password by typing for instance “Password 20″ so that DuckDuckGo will generate a 20 characters password automatically for you.
Use the right syntax
Like Google, DuckDuckGo has a language. Following DDG syntax is helpful to make your search more efficient and get the results you are looking for. For instance, see below the syntax for DuckDuckGo
>
Source: duck.co/help/results/syntax
Keyboard Shortcuts to become a pro
You can also become way faster by using a few shortcuts:>>
Source: duck.co/hel>>>;p/features/keyboard-shortcuts
Y>ou can find the list of all shortcuts here. You can enable or disab>le keyboard shortcuts via the Settings page.
Make it yours by customising the appearance
One can customize the appearance of DDG as per your taste. You can find this in Settings > Theme or Settings > Appearance
This is how I customised my DDG fonts and style.
Get all the possible meanings
If you’re looking for all the possible meanings of something, search for it and then click on definitions. DuckD>uckGo will return all the possible meanings it finds through the web!
What’s the weather in your town?
Before going out, don’t take >risks. Ask DuckDuckGo how’s the weather outside!
Find cheat sheets to get 10x faster at anything
I love shortcuts because they make you become 10x quicker at anything. For example, when I was working as a financial analyst I used excel on a daily basis. When I learned how to use its shortcuts my productivity skyrocketed. I could get things done in less time and with better results!
Is a website Down?
Check if a website is down by asking it to DuckDuckGo:
Generate your QR code and share it!
I love QR codes. They are mysterious. For instance, imagine you convert an article in a QR code, as I did below:
You can then share that article and have people wonder what that is about! I find it another exciting way of sharing content.
#DuckDuckGo #QRCode pic.twitter.com/5keWppxGxW
— Gennaro Cuofano (@fourweekmba) October 9, 2017
Find the right HTML Code
If yn>ou’re not a programmer or developer DuckDuckGo is fantastic. It has a solution to any problem. Let’s say you can’t find the € sign code anywhere. Ask DDG!
Stopwatch
Another way to improve productivity is using your search engine as a stopwatch. Set an hour to focus on one task and let the stopwatch tell you when it’s time to switch task.
Putting it all together>
DuckDuckGo is an excellent search engine, which doesn’t track you. If that isn’t enough, it also has a plethora of built-in features that allow you to do many fantastic and useful things. From getting instant answers to accessing a website without being tracked and checking the weather in your town, DDG got it all.
If you haven’t done it yet, go on and duck it!
I’m crowdfunding my next book. Do you want to support it? Click on the cover below!
The post Fifteen Smart Ways to Be More Productive with Duckduckgo appeared first on The Four-Week MBA.
