We all use major search engines such as Google (83.58% market share), Baidu (7.26% market share) or Bing (6.07% market share) ‘for free’. These search engines make money by learning about us and following us on the Internet.
This allows them to display customized ads that advertisers pay gold for. The only problem is that because of this we no longer see objective search results but have to deal with a filter bubble.
Because of the filter bubble we see more results that are in line with our own ideas and not the opinion ‘of the other party’. This resembles the same problem on social media where we only see what we want to see.
Because of this, people who have shown an interest in something have a lot to do with more of the same, sometimes radical, videos and messages. It also makes it possible to ignorantly influence us for an election, for example.
A good and recently released documentary on Netflix, The Social Dilemma, explains this well.
In this article we will talk about an alternative search engine, namely Qwant.
Table of Contents
What is Qwant?
Qwant is a French search engine that distinguishes itself from search giants like Google because it does not ‘follow’ users on the internet. It also doesn’t show personalized search results, so users are presented with unfiltered search results. This solves the problem with the Filter bubble.
You might think that it doesn’t matter which search engine you use. You should always get the same results for certain searches only this is not the case. How big this difference is you can only find out for yourself by placing the same search query in Google and Qwant.
The Qwant search engine is still small compared to the competition. It has about 0,02% market share and every day about 10 million searches are done through the search engine.
Qwant is based on the Bing search engine and also has its own ‘crawler’ with which they index the internet. Unlike DuckDuckGo, Qwant does not directly try to be the ‘anti-Google’ search engine. It simply wants to do it differently. From the start, DuckDuckGo has declared itself as the search engine that wants to beat Google.
How does Qwant make money?
The Qwant search engine also has to make money and does so by showing ads. The big difference with Google is that it only displays ads that are directly related to your search and not based on the data collected about you.
Qwant vs Google
The biggest difference between Qwant and Google is obvious. The difference is mainly in following the users and showing personalized search results. In addition, research shows that Qwant uses less mobile battery. Especially when you use the ‘dark theme’.
Qwant vs DuckDuckGo
Basically, these search engines are very similar. They both value privacy and will not collect any personal information about you. The big difference between the two is size. DDG exists about five years longer and therefore has more features such as direct answers to your questions. Qwant, on the other hand, is based in France, so you can be sure that it complies with European regulations.
Setting up Qwant as a search engine
Qwant setting up as a search engine is in my opinion a suitable alternative to Google. The results are different from those of Google and you’ll have to get used to this in the beginning if you can still find what you want.
Qwant is also good to use in combination with the Brave Browser. The combination of the two makes anonymous surfing the internet even more complete. Not yet using the Brave Browser? Then you can download it here for free for mobile and PC.
Installing Qwant:
1. Download the Brave Browser
2. Go to the top right of the settings and click on ‘search engines’.
3. Here you can choose the search engine that the browser should use by default for your searches (can be on both PC and cell phone)
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