How many times in the last week have you been asked: “Have you googled it? “googling it” has become a new term in the English modern vocabulary as synonymous with searching for answers online to any question we may have, be this on social media or one of hundreds of different search engines. From Yahoo, to Bing and Baidu to Ask.com or now ChatGTP there’s plenty of places you can go to “google it”
We live in a world of fake news, online shopping and social media and we rely heavily on our search engines to give us the information we’re looking for, almost without thinking about it, but can you really trust your search engine?
Does any search engine really give you honest answers to your "googled" questions?
How do you know if your top search answer really is the best one? Is the information you searched for, genuine or is it sponsored by someone intending to cause harm or confusion or to make a lot of money from it?
The truth is you can’t be entirely sure, so you should never completely trust any search engine. Don’t assume they will give you honest, unbiased, information without hidden agenda’s. Whilst search engines use many algorisms to give you the best answers you need, the bottom line is that the highest rank answer is often the one that paid to be at the top. And of course your search history has built up a profile of you and what you like and will feed you the responses you’re most likely to click on. These “cookies” are very powerful and have built up a significant database of information on you. Sadly many of us are totally unaware of this.
Maybe you are just all worn out by it and you’re “googled out”?
How to improve your "google" search result
We recommend that you start making changes to counter this kind of browser espionage and start implementing your own counter measures.
- The first thing to do is to change your search engine. Find a search engine which Does not track your movements.
- Secondly find a search engine that does not present you with results from its own subsidiaries or partners. it can trap you in their web of profit making.
- We recommend you change your search engine to DuckDuckGo on all your devices. They don’t track you and they won’t present their own interests to you but give unbiased results in their answers.
- Here is a great article that explains in more details by Gabriel Weinberg, CEO & Founder of DuckDuckgo. https://www.quora.com/Why-should-I-use-DuckDuckGo-instead-of-Google
- Also don’t just read the first two or three answers in your search. Sometimes the best results come back when you scroll down. a bit. Remember the top result is there not because it’s correct but because they worked harder then anyone to get it there.
- Use your own common sense, if it walks like a duck and it looks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.
- And yes, we did start this article by saying don’t trust anyone entirely but in our experience, DuckDuckGo lives up to its pledges.
Also read this article: https://www.saint-it.co.uk/green-internet-browsing/
