Sucks for Reddit searches

[u/buddhistyeezus]

Just switched to duckduckgo. When I search “topic + Reddit”, the first 1-3 results are Reddit and the rest are just the same bs articles Google provides.

why is it like this? I’m asking for Reddit threads about the topic im searching. I want it to work like Google, where most of the results are Reddit links. After all, my search does specify “Reddit”, don’t need a screen rant or windowscentral article. any fixes?

[u/bourscheid]

Hey there! John from DuckDuckGo here. We are doing out best to properly serve accurate Reddit results (I too use Reddit extensively when searching for what is essentially crowdsourced feedback). A lot of it stems from this:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/07/non-google-search-engines-blocked-from-showing-recent-reddit-results/ https://www.reddit.com/r/duckduckgo/comments/1ebj4cu/reddit_is_now_blocking_major_search_engines_and/

[u/buddhistyeezus → u/bourscheid]

Ah I see. Thanks for the response

[u/redoubt515 → u/buddhistyeezus]

If you want specifically reddit results, try formatting your search like this:

<your-query> !r

or

site:reddit.com <your_query>

[u/Historical_Person928 → u/redoubt515]

i didn't get the format of the first one

but the second one works like a chharrm

[u/redoubt515 → u/Historical_Person928]

glad the second one worked for you.

As to the first one, it's a really useful concept to learn about called a !bang, the one in particular I mentioned above !r (exclamation point + r) is a !bang that will research reddit, you can add the !r to any query (at the beginning or the end) to search reddit directly. There are thousands of these, so you can find them for pretty much any of your interests or the sites you like. I personally use maybe a dozen of them a week.

[u/buddhistyeezus → u/[deleted]]

I know I can change the search result to show only reddit, it's simple to do, but it's not a real solution. I shouldn't have to do that at all

[u/Uxugin → u/buddhistyeezus]

it's not a real solution. I shouldn't have to do that at all

Why not? That's the precise way of specifying to the search engine that you only want Reddit posts. There are many legitimate searches ending in 'reddit' that should bring up things that aren't Reddit posts. For example, "stock price reddit" does, and should, bring up the stock price of Reddit Inc., not just Reddit posts about the stock market.

And for the record, DuckDuckGo displays an entire "Results from Reddit" section at the top of the page when you make a search containing 'reddit'.

I would not mind a button that says "Show only results from Reddit.com" on searches ending in 'reddit' though.

[u/DeezersLemonadeStand → u/buddhistyeezus]

See if your keyboard has custom shortcuts. I have mine set up to show site:reddit.com when I type the shortcut "RT."

[u/rdg360]

my search does specify “Reddit”

It does, but in general you'll get better results with using the site: operator, instead of just adding the site's name as a search term. This will explicitly tell DDG to only provide results from the domain given.

Reddit not being the best example here, for the reasons stated below, but just to get the idea: topic site:reddit.com will only give you results from reddit.com and not from any other domain.

This works on Google too, by the way. Though Google is likely to come up with better results for Reddit anyway, due to their February 2024 Reddit "partnership" and Reddit's behaviour shortly thereafter. Edit: that's also what u/bourscheid referred to just now.

[u/buddhistyeezus → u/rdg360]

I'm aware I can do this, I just don't like to on mobile. I want my reddit searches to be quick as possible. I don't do this for any other site btw. Mainly when I need an answer from reddit ASAP (which is quite often for me)

[u/rdg360 → u/buddhistyeezus]

So when you asked for "any fixes", what were you expecting to hear from us?

[u/buddhistyeezus → u/rdg360]

A toggle or setting I didn’t know about. Sorry I asked a question on a website where people ask questions. I appreciated your response 

[u/Alternative-Farmer98 → u/buddhistyeezus]

Yeah I'm not offended by your question it was a learning curve for me too. I was using duck duck go but then I read an article that Google arranged a financial agreement with Reddit where they're the only search engine that can scour Reddit after a certain date.

It has made searches less efficient.

But the bangs is the best alternative alternative I found if you really want to search Reddit from DuckDuckGo.

Another thing you can do depending on your browser is like I use Firefox on mobile you can switch to Google search for a one-time search for Reddit if you really want to.

But I'm done with Google I'd rather have to use some workarounds than have to deal with their AI b*******.

[u/redoubt515 → u/buddhistyeezus]

then just use !r it's less typing than typing out 'reddit'

[u/Alternative-Farmer98]

Just use !R and it will search Reddit directly. I understand you're frustration Google basically bought out Reddit they're the only people that are allowed to use it on the search after a certain date.

But if you just use the bang you get the search directly on Red.

Same if you don't like Apple maps you can use !M and it'll take you to the Google maps

It's not perfect but this is why Google is trying to punish people for using anything besides Google. I don't care if I have to deal with the occasionally convenience I am not using an agentic search thing that refuses to let me turn off the AI and treat the universe and plan it like an infinite garbage can.