Privacy-friendly search engines

If you want to look up something on the internet, use Google. The search engine has become so big for a reason. He is fast and efficient. Downside: Google knows what you’re looking for. Especially if you use other Google services, the internet giant will learn quite a bit about you. So what to do if you don’t like that? There are alternatives that respect your privacy. They give you what you are looking for without asking for any information about you in return.

There is no question of downloading and installing. All you need to do is go to the new search engine’s website and do a search there. It works differently on the smartphone or tablet, you can download the app in the App Store (iPad/iPhone) or Play Store (Android).

Although the name suggests otherwise, Startpage is in Dutch. This search engine does not store any information about you, so privacy is guaranteed. Is Startpage as good as Google then? Of course. Startpage uses the search results provided by Google. How they do that is a technical story. Think of Startpage as a filter over Google so Google can’t see you. That’s why Startpage is a good alternative for those who want more privacy, but don’t want too much change.
You can find the search engine at: Homepage

This search engine stands alone. No personal data is stored or passed on here either. DuckDuckGo blocks trackers. These are temporary files that companies install on your device after you visit their site. With this they collect information about your online behavior in order to sell more stuff to you. So that’s a thing of the past. But the search results pages take some getting used to for those who normally work with Google.
You can find the search engine at: DuckDuckGo

Search engine Ecosia primarily revolves around compensating for CO2 emissions. It plants trees from the profits made by the company. In addition, the privacy of users is also well taken care of. Searches are anonymized after a week. But the company promises never to sell your data to advertisers. Searches are also encrypted, so they cannot be viewed. Read more about this search engine in the tip ‘Plant trees by searching with Ecosia’.

An internet program such as Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari has a default search engine. Think of Bing, Google or Yahoo!. Do you keep forgetting to go to one of the above search engines before looking something up? Then set another search engine as default:

• in Safari (Mac).
• in Edge, Firefox and Chrome (just don’t set Google, but something else).