November 13, 2020 5 Alternatives and Opportunities of Google URL Search

Google tracks the history of sites visited so some search engines protect users from unwanted monitoring. Here’s 5 Google alternatives.

Google is known for offering its users an individual approach, but it would be pretty naive to trust the search giant. This privilege has its price. For example, Google has the right to track the history of the sites you visit and collect your personal information. Because of this, many users have started using alternatives. This threat has become so important that a lot of search engines have taken steps to protect users from unwanted monitoring. Here are our top-5 Google alternatives:

1. DuckDuckGo

If you want to achieve maximum privacy while surfing the Internet, this search engine is an excellent choice. The websites you visit will have no chance of tracking you or your online activity. It also means no targeted ads. Besides, the site has a simple interface and offers results from Yahoo and other engines. You can install the DuckDuckGo extension that will block tracking scripts and cookies when you visit sites.

Best features:

• Prevents user monitoring;
• Eliminates annoying ads;
• Keeps your data security and privacy;
• Has a convenient user interface;
• Has an infinite scrolling function.

All these features have made DuckDuckGo our top-choice in the meta search engine lists of alternatives.

2. StartPage

The service displays results and provides a proxy service for visiting sites anonymously. It has a special URL generator that allows you to browse sites without setting cookies, thus, protecting your privacy. You can also customize the interface or you can just choose a dark mode or one of the suggested themes.

Key features:

• Almost similar to Google search, except for the monitoring feature;
• Does not log your personal information, including your IP address.

3. SearX

Another great search engine that deserves attention. This service has a secure search and does not collect any data. It collects results from a variety of sources including DuckDuckGo, Google, Wikipedia, and others. You can completely customize the search for yourself with minimal efforts. Other search engines don’t have this function.

Top features:

• Provides numerous options for expanding search results;
• A safe search engine that’s easy to set up.

4. Search Encrypt

This is another metasearch engine that prioritizes privacy, allowing users to browse the web safely and anonymously. The website does not log any user information that could reveal your identity as it uses local encryption tools. This is almost similar to Google, making it a great alternative. The most useful feature of this Google competitor is that your data is automatically deleted after 15 minutes of inactivity.

Top features:

• Provides privacy of browsing;
• Automatically deletes a browser history.

5. Disconnect

This Google analog is unique when compared to other alternatives mentioned in this article. Disconnect doesn’t show results on its site: it redirects the request to its servers, ensuring anonymity. Then, it displays the results in your private search engine. Since Disconnect doesn’t have its website, it acts like a browser extension that needs to be installed.

Key features:

• Provides you with the ability to privately browse websites on the search engine of your choice;
• Works as the open-source browser extension;
• Available in Safari, Firefox, Chrome browsers on Android and iOS.

We believe that these five alternatives can help you to switch from Google to another search engine. However, you can also optimize your work by using a URL search.

How Google Allows to Optimize Work with URL Search

Among the many advanced search commands you can run on Google, there is one that allows you to search by URL. So, Google search URL allows you to filter the results to show only those that have specific words in the URL. You can search the URL if you know that the data you are looking for is on a webpage where the URL contains a specific word or number or even a specific phrase. This is possible with the “inurl” command.

To make it more simple, imagine that you are telling Google, “Show me the results where ABC is in the URL,” but instead of typing it, you insert the “inurl” command. It is a command very similar to the “site” that is used to search for a specific web address. Here are some other powerful ways to help you find the required materials in a couple of clicks:

1. 1. OR

Sometimes we are not exactly sure that we have memorized or heard the necessary information correctly. No problem! Just enter two alternatives in the search dividing them with the “|” or the English “or” and then select the appropriate result.

1. 2. Search by a Synonym

As you know, English is rich in synonyms. If you need to quickly find sites on a given topic, and not just a specific phrase, put the “~” symbol. For example, results from the query “healthy ~ food” will help you learn about healthy eating principles, cool recipes and foods, and restaurants of healthy food.

1. 3. Search Within the Site

Sometimes, you read an interesting article, and then you want to share useful information with your friends or just read it again. Then, the site search comes to the rescue. To do this, enter the site address, and then the keywords or the whole phrase.

1. 4. Time Frame

Sometimes we need to get acquainted with the events that happened in a certain period. To do this, add a time frame to the main phrase separated by three dots. For example, we want to know what scientific discoveries were made between 1900 and 2000.

1. 5. Similar Sites

If you like the site and now want to find similar ones – insert “related:” before the site address.

In Conclusion

As you can see, there are many decent alternatives to Google that do not lose in quality of results. If you want to give Google a second chance, take your time to study the tricks of smart search in Google. By using them, you can significantly expand your opportunities in Google search and make sure to receive correct results in a short time.

Subscribe to Industry Today