DuckDuckGo: Could it Revival the Leading Web Browsers?

DuckDuckGo is a privacy-focused browser that blocks site trackers and does not collect user information. Here’s some thoughts about why it is making waves in the browser segment.

What makes DuckDuckGo a unique browser?

Google is the most popular search engine in the world and it makes its money through user data collection. The company collects information such as the age, gender, location and internet activity patterns of whoever uses Google Maps, Google search, and the Chrome browser. Google uses this information to place websites you are most likely to gravitate towards at the top of searches. This gives website companies an easy way to guide target customers to their content, making it harder for searchers to find new information from a wide variety of quality sources.

DuckDuckGo’s search engine retains the integrity of its search results by ranking them in terms of keyword meaning and relevance instead of commercial priorities. Importantly, the browser does not collect information on the user. This data privacy policy extends to their browser.

End-to-end privacy protection

Privacy-focused browsers like DuckDuckGo are particularly useful for certain user demographics such as the online gambling community. A growing trend in online gambling is anonymous casinos that allow players to play without making an account and revealing personal details. Usually, these sites will extend anonymity to payment methods, allowing cryptocurrency payment methods. However, any efforts to protect user anonymity by the casino are undermined if your actual browser is tied to your identity. Because DuckDuckGo does not collect user data, it is ideal for people who use anonymous casinos. It is the best browser for maintaining anonymity throughout your online activities, beginning from searches right the way to payment transactions.

There are literally thousands of casinos on the internet. Without Google’s narrowly personalized approach to search results, DuckDuckGo offers you the ability to see the full range of casino options. If the range of choice is overwhelming, however, you can always opt for a professionally curated aggregator site. For example, gamblers can enjoy the best new online casinos Canada can offer by browsing reputable gambling brands all of which are in one place.

How DuckDuckGo may inspire changes in browser configuration

In 2019, Chrome finally made DuckDuckGo a default search option on their browser. This is a sign that Google is waking up to the fact that users are demanding greater privacy protection than its business model currently allows. At the same time, DuckDuckGo’s search results are still no match for Google’s language-parsing algorithms which can detect the meaning and context of queries in an impressively subtle way.

If DuckDuckGo does manage to improve on its aspect of performance, it is likely to make even bigger inroads into Google’s search engine market share than it already has. In January 2021 DuckDuckGo searches rose above 100 million for the first time. Now, it is the third most popular search engine after Google and Yahoo.

Users are finding DuckDuckGo already does many of the things that make Google so useful. In many ways, its format closely resembles Google’s. This means users don’t have a steep learning curve when they first get DuckDuckGo. Like Google, DuckDuckGo features search aids like the ‘People also ask’, relevant videos and images at the top of the search results page, and the ‘knowledge panel’ feature that displays key information about public figures at the top of the search list.

DuckDuckGo will make other browsers more user-friendly

DuckDuckGo is likely to pressure Chrome and other browsers like Safari or Firefox to make it much easier to control privacy settings, including for site trackers put out by sites like Facebook. For example, Chrome is notorious for default privacy settings that favor data collection. DuckDuckGo’s pro-privacy evangelism is increasingly drawing people’s attention to drawbacks like this. Already, Chrome, Safari and Firefox browsers now offer DuckDuckGo extensions.

DuckDuckGo’s browser makes it easy to block many problematic data collection techniques, pushing other browser providers to give users more control over their data. In 2017, for example, Safari released updates that allowed users to disable cross-site cookie tracking. In 2020, they added an intelligent tracking update that blocks cookies and stops advertisers from tracking user habits.

At the same time, Google and Yahoo remain reliably popular choices for online searches. DuckDuckGo may be reaching their limits in terms of attracting the minority user segment people who care strongly about online privacy. To expand further, DuckDuckGo will need to gain a competitive edge on other features, like their search engine’s result relevance. DuckDuckGo will also need to keep pace with new browser updates and products. Already, the company is taking steps in this direction. In April 2022, they released a beta version of the first DuckDuckGo browser for Mac which features their search engine, a tracker blocker, cookie pop up protection on around 50 percent of state, and one click data clearing. Their Windows browser is coming soon.