Search engines are highly useful. To the likes of Google, they record what we, and every other user searches for.
This is a dream come true for any advertisers as they can target ads specifically for you in your search results.
However, this is an infringement of privacy for users when you are being watched every time you click on search in a search engine. Besides, you never know who has their hands on your data.
Here you can find the top 5 anonymous search engine list, along with other useful information to protect your personal information and privacy as you enter your private search requests.
What Search Engine Does Not Filter Results?
If you want unfiltered results from your search engine, then Ecosia is a top choice. Besides presenting you with unfiltered results, every search you make, the company’s excess income goes to planting trees.
Ecosia from the search history generates no personal profiles, and all search requests are anonymized in one week. Ecosia will not sell any user data or search queries to advertisers, and will not use third-party trackers like Google Analytics.
As good as this search engine is to the environment, it uses the Bing algorithm as well as theirs to deliver search results.
Does DuckDuckGo Really Not Track?
DuckDuckGo will not track or store personal information about any of its users. Neither do they present you with ads as you search.
DuckDuckGo refers to itself as “the search engine that does not track you like Google does.”
The search engine company promises it will not use cookies for tracking its users and states that it does not gather personal information about those who use it. It even hides your IP address.
“We protect your search history, even from us,” the founder of the search engine company claims
However, DuckDuckGo does save search history, even though they claim such saving is “non-personal” and don’t tie directly to users. Aside from ads, they do make money from affiliate commissions from sites such as eBay and Amazon.
What is the Best Non-Google Search Engine?
For many, Edward Snowden’s NSA disclosures about privacy prompted a call to action to use private search engines.
For years this has been an activity of many users, although there are many other causes why private search engines are attractive.
Advertisements are a pain, even if you want something. They are aggressively placed on websites, and they don’t benefit your user experience.
Here is what mainstream search engines store
- IP addresses and location
- Search Keywords and Cookie-based identifiers
- User agent
They use this personal information to create a user profile, which may be passed on to third parties that will also send you customized ads.
Top 5 Google Alternative Search Engines
1. DuckDuckGo
Best known is number 1, DuckDuckGo search engine services that market themselves as private search engines
DuckDuckGo is a powerful metasearch tool collecting results from over four hundred resources, including Bing, Yahoo, Wikipedia, and many others. It is extremely popular and has about 14 million searches per day.
DuckDuckGo is an invaluable search tool, for which we value the fact that it includes a detailed, transparent privacy policy.
However, some of the policy disclosures may concern you if you are aiming for total anonymity.
DuckDuckGo stores some information, as you will see later, but it is very far from selling your information.
Suppose you prefer a private search engine that is entirely independent of corporations that are known to be aggressive data collectors. In that case, you may wish to consider using one of the other options listed here.
Regardless, before using DuckDuckGo, you must carefully read the company’s policy to see what information from your searches will be stored.
2. SwissCows
SwissCows’ privacy policy is straightforward and to the point: “We do not collect any personal information about our visitors.”
We do not record your IP address, browser, or device information. Nor are your search terms recorded or analyzed. The only data SwissCows records are the overall amount of search requests which it receives daily.
SwissCows uses its own private servers and is independent of third-party infrastructure.
It has a data center located under the Swiss Alps and is therefore well protected by the Swiss laws on privacy protection and data storage. No infrastructure is situated within the EU or the United States.
SwissCows displays sponsors’ advertising banners with your search results, where you find the ads are based on search query, not your location or search history.
While they are still ads, they are not invasive, and, in keeping with the SwissCows status, they never include any explicit or sexist material.
3. MetaGer
A German non-profit NGO established MetaGer. It gathers worldwide users after such popularity in Germany. Like other private search engines, MetaGer translates your search queries into an anonymous query which it transmits to the major search engines.
However, it differs in how this private search engine integrates with a proxy server to conceal your IP address, allowing it to protect your privacy in ways other search engines can’t.
MetaGer results include an “open anonymously” feature for each link. When you select this setting, your transmissions are sent via an anonymous proxy, so the receiving site and third parties will not be able to track you.
You will find that privacy protection continues if you follow the links around the destination site. Although it offers some security, it should not be confused with the security you get from a VPN. It is, however, a leap forward from what Google offers.
User contributions support MetaGer, and you will see a “Donate” button on all result pages. The site’s code is open-source, which allows everyone to check it for hidden elements.
4. Yase
Yase takes its “No-Logs” pledges very seriously.
Its privacy policy states that the company “will not disclose any personally identifiable information publicly or to third parties unless required by law” and will not store any user logs or activities. It also explicitly says that it will not store IP addresses.
The website will use Bing to provide answers to inquiries. They also collect information from other sites like Wikipedia.
This means you get fast and accurate answers while maintaining your privacy and making it a win-win situation for users.
It delivers independent web, image, and video and news results and lets users apply filters, including Safe Search and file type.
Yase recommends using its service because it provides a filter-less bubble, complete privacy, and superior results.
5. StartPage
StartPage is the first and best private search engine available. It provides excellent alternative search results, settings you can change, and many privacy features.
The experience is straightforward, and the search results are more relevant than with other private search engines.
You can find them because it uses Google search technology, albeit without any tracking. You will find that other private search engines are more dependent on Yahoo and BING’s search feeds.
StartPage does not track, log, or share any user information with third parties.
The headquarters and primary servers are located in the Netherlands, so global users are protected from the strict privacy laws of the EU.
Besides, StartPage passes an independent audit of privacy and data processing practices.
StartPage offers several ways for users to personalize the settings to make the site their own and customize it to their liking.
StartPage also offers private browsing with the Anonymous View feature, where users can view pictures, videos, messages, and complete Web sites without tracking.
Each link has an “Anonymous View” that appears on its page, and by clicking the link, they hide your IP address and user agent from websites in the results.
How Can I Browse Without Being Tracked?
While all these search engine services offer a great alternative to Google, they can only do so much to keep you private while online. Even the best private search engine can’t protect your data after you have made your search.
One service can do this and is a great addition to keep DuckDuckGo unblocked should it ever be restricted.
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) will change your IP address as soon as you connect and change your server. Besides this, no one, not even your ISP, can see what you are searching because of the military-grade encryption.
Because of this, a private search engine, or even Google, doesn’t know who or where the searches originate.
You can use a search engine from above, use private browsing in your chosen browser, and cap all this off with a VPN, and you can be as secure as possible while on the internet or carrying out any other daily activity.
Read more: Google Search History Delete All Guide
