{"id":20357,"date":"2020-01-29T15:34:55","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T15:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/glosario-digital\/duckduckgo"},"modified":"2026-10-02T11:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T11:31:09","slug":"duckduckgo","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/duckduckgo","title":{"rendered":"DuckDuckGo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DuckDuckGo\"Definition:<\/strong><\/p>\n

DuckDuckGo<\/strong> is a privacy-focused search engine that lets users look up information on the internet without creating a personal search history for advertising tracking. It is also the name of the company that develops it and offers a browser and other privacy protection services.<\/p>\n

The search engine can be used from different browsers. Choosing it as a search engine does not mean installing the DuckDuckGo browser or activating all the protections in its other products.<\/p>\n\n

Origin of DuckDuckGo<\/h2>\n

DuckDuckGo was founded in 2008 by Gabriel Weinberg. It began as a search engine and expanded its activities with applications, extensions and services aimed at reducing tracking across different digital activities.<\/p>\n

The company is independent of Google and Microsoft. That business independence does not mean all its results come from its own index: DuckDuckGo combines its own technology with information from external providers.<\/p>\n

Where its results come from<\/h2>\n

Like other search engines<\/a>, DuckDuckGo displays links to pages related to the query, as well as images and direct answers to certain questions.<\/p>\n

Its sources of results<\/a> include specialist providers, sites such as Wikipedia, its own indexes and its DuckDuckBot crawler. A significant proportion of links and images comes from Bing.<\/p>\n

DuckDuckGo combines these sources to produce the results page. It is not simply another name for Bing, but it is not accurate to describe it as a search engine completely independent of external indexes either.<\/p>\n

Results can vary according to the query, language, region or local context. Not using a personal search profile does not mean everyone receives exactly the same results page.<\/p>\n

The difference between the search engine and the browser<\/h2>\n

The search engine finds information and presents results. The browser is the application used to open and interact with web pages.<\/p>\n

The DuckDuckGo browser incorporates the search engine and protections against certain tracking mechanisms, as well as features for managing browsing data. The company also offers extensions that add some of its protections to compatible browsers.<\/p>\n

These tools aim to block trackers, not systematically prevent access to platforms such as Google or Facebook. The specific features depend on the product and operating system.<\/p>\n

Other services, such as Email Protection or Duck.ai, perform different tasks: the former helps reduce email tracking through forwarding addresses, while the latter enables conversations with artificial intelligence models. They are not requirements for using the search engine.<\/p>\n

What privacy DuckDuckGo offers<\/h2>\n

DuckDuckGo states that it does not store queries alongside IP addresses or other identifiers that would allow an individual search history to be built. It may retain anonymous queries, disconnected from those identifiers, to improve its results.<\/p>\n

This distinction matters: not building personal profiles is not the same as the service processing no data at all. A web request needs technical information to receive a response, and some settings allow local or language-adapted results to be provided.<\/p>\n

Requests to results providers go through DuckDuckGo’s servers. This should be distinguished from opening a page from a result: the website visited has its own terms and may collect information about the visitor.<\/p>\n

Using DuckDuckGo does not by itself hide the IP address from every site or prevent a website from recognising someone who signs in. The scope of protection depends on whether only the search engine or other tools are also being used.<\/p>\n

What !bang shortcuts are<\/h2>\n

!Bangs<\/strong> are instructions that let users send a search directly to another site. They are written with an exclamation mark followed by the corresponding identifier.<\/p>\n

For example, !w solar energy<\/code> sends the query to Wikipedia. Their purpose is to access the chosen site’s search engine without first visiting its home page.<\/p>\n

This is not simply filtering DuckDuckGo’s results. The search takes place on the destination service and is subject to its terms, including those concerning data collection.<\/p>\n

How DuckDuckGo is funded<\/h2>\n

The search engine’s main source of revenue is advertising displayed alongside the results. Ads are selected according to the query or results page, rather than based on a profile built from personal history.<\/p>\n

A large proportion of advertising clicks is managed through Microsoft Advertising. Contextual advertising allows an ad to be related to what is being searched for without requiring a user’s previous history; it does not mean advertisers lack options for targeting their campaigns.<\/p>\n

The company also earns revenue through a subscription<\/a> to additional services. Free access to the search engine and those paid services are separate offerings, with their own terms and availability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What DuckDuckGo is, where its results come from and what privacy it offers. Search engine versus browser, !bang shortcuts and funding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":79429,"template":"","encyclopedia-tag":[1254,1456],"class_list":["post-20357","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","encyclopedia-tag-alternative-search-engines","encyclopedia-tag-general-search-engines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/20357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"encyclopedia-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia-tag?post=20357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}