DuckDuckGo has a well-deserved reputation as the best private alternative to Google’s search engine, but it has many other advantages besides letting you browse the web anonymously. Here we reveal our favourite tricks for making the most of DuckDuckGo’s search engine, whether you’re using its new browser or another one.
Search specific websites using ‘bangs’
DuckDuckGo has a unique search feature called Bangs, which lets you search within specific sites directly from its search engine. Bangs are shortcuts you type before your search queries, which consist of an exclamation mark followed by a site’s first letter, an abbreviation of its name or a keyword.
Examples of bangs include !auk to search, !w for Wikipedia (see screenshot below), !r for Reddit, !nf for Netflix and !yt for YouTube. The results open in the corresponding website rather than DuckDuckGo, which means they aren’t anonymous and your data may be tracked, so it’s more of a time-saving tip than a privacy one. However, if you’re using DuckDuckGo’s browser or extension, it will block most hidden trackers, so you don’t need to worry.
