Why I Use a Private Search Engine and Not Google

I haven't always avoided Google, and back in the day I really loved Google Search. It was (and arguable still is) the best search engine on the internet. Now using Google makes your entire internet experience worse. It leads to ads all over the place related to your searches and it tries to trap you in its data ecosystem of products (tons of products).

It's Not All About Privacy

Sure, I use a private search engine because I don't think I should have to share my every internet search with my search engine. There are enough alternatives to Google that don't track my searches that still offer great search results. I think Google's sophisticated tracking is unnecessary. If I don't need to share my data with Google, why should I? Doing so would just play into Google's imperialism of the internet. I want to keep as much of my information private from Google as possible, because they are the ones who use it the most. The odds of my searches leaking and impacting my life are slim to none, while Google will most definitely use that information to target its ads.

Google Display Ads Are Annoying As It Is

If I'm trying to read an article online, I don't want to be distracted by banner ads all over the page. These are incredibly annoying, (so I use extensions like Mercury Reader in Chromium to clean up my reading experience). Imagine how much more distracting ads would be if they were for things I was actually interested in. I'd get taken away from the content I'm trying to read all the time. I know, I know...Google is going to track me anyway, through Analytics and other tracking pixels on damn near every website I visit. But if I can make the display ads that Google shows me 5 percent less relevant, that could save me hours over the course of a month or a year.

Read More:

• The Best Private Search Engines— Alternatives to Google
• Why Using a Private Search Engine Actually Matters