Questions about DuckDuckGo’s future

I like DuckDuckGo. I have used their search engine for ten years. I like their stance on privacy. I even like their cartoon duck.

But what is DuckDuckGo?

Most of you would probably say: “It’s a search engine, like Google.” While this is true, it’s also incomplete. If “search engine” was the obvious answer five years ago, I don’t think it is anymore.

What is DuckDuckGo’s main product nowadays? This is where it gets tricky.

DuckDuckGo seems to spend a lot of time and effort on building web browsers, privacy-focused tools, but not so much time on search. If the search engine is the point-of-entry into their brand ecosystem — and apparently the main way they make money via ads — I don’t think search is their main product anymore.

There is therefore some sort of confusion as to what DuckDuckGo really is. For starters, this confusion comes from the names of the company’s products. Everything is called DuckDuckGo: the browser, the search engine, the company, &c.

Considering DuckDuckGo’s focus on privacy and what the company stands for — particularly crucial given the prevalence of surveillance advertising — it’s apt to draw comparisons to Mozilla. However, while Mozilla keeps product names straightforward, DuckDuckGo’s naming approach can be confusing.

At Mozilla, Firefox is the name of the browser and all products linked to the browser have Firefox in their name, and Mozilla is both the company name and the name of products not directly related to the in-house browser. The Mozilla family of products revolves around two big categories, with two distinct names. It’s fairly easy to understand.

At DuckDuckGo, everything is called DuckDuckGo, and depending on where you look, there are subtle differences. How is the browser called? The DuckDuckGo browser. Or the DuckDuckGo app. Or just plain DuckDuckGo. Which one is it? It’s very confusing, and I believe it says a lot about the company’s focus and direction, hopefully not indicating a lack thereof.¹

Two years ago, in a post entitled Saying goodbye to DuckDuckGo, I wrote:

As much as I am a fan of the whole privacy-first approach of DuckDuckGo, the brand itself, and the content they publish, the sad truth is that the search engine hasn’t improved in the last couple of years. During the first years, I could identify the regular improvements, the regular refinements of the quality of the search results that made the overall experience increasingly better. But this feeling has disappeared for quite a long time.

Back then, I had already noticed that the search engine was stagnating in comparison to its competitors. Today, I feel like I understand why.

All recent company developments in recent years seem to focus on everything except search: iOS apps, Safari extensions, extensions for other browsers, Windows browsers, Mac browsers, Android apps, email protection, and now even a interesting password and bookmark sync system. On the company’s blog, the last post regarding the search engine is from October 2019, except the obligatory A.I. feature promise.

I can’t help but feel that their search engine is now just an afterthought compared to their other offerings.

The DDG search engine, as it stands, must be considered to be good enough by the team — and it is, don’t get me wrong. It’s a mediocre, sometimes decent, sometimes good search engine, which makes it easily one of the best, especially since Google is not that great these days, plagued by SEO mobs. However, there is so much room for improvement.

So what happened?

Maybe the growing popularity of their search engine pushed them to diversify to foster loyalty of users? Maybe they somehow knew that the search industry was too hard to even attempt to do more? After all, if search was an easy industry, more companies would be in it.

Maybe they hope Bing will eventually get better and they can just focus on the rest?² Or are they simply waiting to see how A.I. will impact search engines to work on something new and better?

Now I’m wondering what comes next for DuckDuckGo.

Will they work to compete against other browsers by leveraging their focus on privacy?

Will they try to compete with other search engines like Brave Search or Kagi?³

Will they abandon search altogether? It’s unclear how they would monetise their products without the advertising money made via search. Now that DuckDuckGo operates a web browser, maybe they don’t need search anymore? Mozilla, for instance, has a browser and doesn’t run a search engine.

Will they work on a new partnership for search, while attempting to monetise the browser, similar to how Mozilla monetises Firefox?

To the question I asked initally, what is DuckDuckGo?, I think the best answer comes from the company itself:

DuckDuckGo is the independent Internet privacy company for anyone who’s tired of being tracked online and wants an easy solution.

The main product of DuckDuckGo isn’t a search engine or a browser. Their main product is privacy. It is a strong brand promise, and I believe they offer a good range of products in that area. However, I doubt they’ll be able to consistently maintain all of them at a high quality level.

Today, DuckDuckGo seems to make money from the search engine, but the recent lack of care for it makes me wonder about the next chapter of the company.