I am done with Google. I think they have lost their way.
I don’t remember when, or where, I found out about DuckDuckGo, but a quick search of this site has me [promoting it first](http://brooksreview.net/2011/02/chrome-10/) in February of 2011. It’s my go to search engine right now and I am trying to not use Google for anything. Here’s how I am making DuckDuckGo a default across my computing.
### LaunchBar
First things first you need to add it to LaunchBar so that you can get fast access. [Here’s the guide to do just that](http://www.obdev.at/resources/launchbar/help/SearchTemplates.html).
As an added bonus I set up another search template for searching my website with DuckDuckGo, here’s how that looks:
Done.
### Safari
While Chrome [makes it easy](http://help.duckduckgo.com/customer/portal/articles/216440-chrome) to change default search engines, Safari takes a bit more work. ((If you want it to replace Google in that nice little search area next to the address field — which I do want.)) DuckDuckGo [has a guide](http://help.duckduckgo.com/customer/portal/articles/216447-safari) for doing this and I have used the Glims method — it works fantastically well and looks stock.
Don’t turn on all that fancy crap that drops down search results, just install DuckDuckGo and turn everything else off. That will give you the most “stock” look.
### Your Website
Lastly I had to change the search at the footer of this site. I was porting it through Google previously and now have changed it to go through DuckDuckGo.
There’s a [handy tool on the DuckDuckGo site](http://duckduckgo.com/search_box.html) that allows you to customize an iFrame (not the best, but better than using Google) and while it is much bigger than what I had — I like what it stands for: true search.
Here’s the key to adding DuckDuckGo: you can customize a few key areas to make it match your site better: the colors and whether DuckDuckGo can show ads. Check out all those param tweaks [here](http://duckduckgo.com/params.html).
### Done
If you have done everything correctly you shouldn’t need Google search anymore. If we want Google to stop jacking around our search results then we have to hit them where it hurts: search. That starts with people leaving Google search.
That’s what I am doing.
DuckDuckGo often has better quality results from what I have seen, but you will notice that the results aren’t as instantaneous as Google’s — they take a second.
Give it a go, I bet you like it.
*(As an added bonus, take a look at their [privacy policy](http://duckduckgo.com/privacy.html).)*