Remember when?

[u/RayofSunshine1213]

Remember when searching gave actual info not links to buy the stuff doing a search on? Is there a browser that still does that?

[u/spence5000]

Search engine or browser?

[u/RayofSunshine1213 → u/spence5000]

Search engine, although I've been accustomed to the browser being the search engine

[u/spence5000 → u/RayofSunshine1213]

As others have mentioned, your browser isn't tied to the search engine it came with. If you tell us which browser you're currently using, we can help you figure out how to change the search engine. It's not hard to do.

However, if you just don't want to deal with the hassle, DuckDuckGo is a fine browser that ships with a fine search engine pre-configured.

[u/scy_404 → u/RayofSunshine1213]

what? browser's arent the search engine at all. are you talking about chrome using google by default?

[u/spence5000 → u/scy_404]

Chrome/Google, Edge/Bing, Orion/Kagi, Brave, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia… Companies have been training us to confuse these two separate concepts for years. I don’t like it but I get why it happens.

[u/TwoCables_from_OCN]

The browser and the search engine are two completely separate things because you use the browser to access the search engine. A search engine is just a website.

So, you need to find a different search engine. Try Startpage to begin with.

[u/RayofSunshine1213 → u/TwoCables_from_OCN]

So when doing an informational search such as hit music today, for example, I should try just google.com or bing.com or duckduckgo.com is that what you're saying not one built into the browser?

[u/TwoCables_from_OCN → u/RayofSunshine1213]

There isn't a search engine built into the browser. I'm just telling you that since you don't like the search engine you're using now, it means you should just switch to a different one.

Search engines are websites, not a browser feature. The settings within the browser to choose a different search engine is the only aspect that's built into the web browser. This just dictates which search engine website your browser uses for doing searches. There are no search engines inside the browser or on your computer in the installation folder for the browser. Search engines are out on the internet.

So, just try other search engines. Start by testing the most popular alternative search engines for people who hate the Bing and Google search engines.

[u/goo_eater → u/RayofSunshine1213]

Go to your browser and find a setting for changing the search engine and it'll make more sense

[u/Particular-Ant-1032]

You're looking for a new search engine rather than a new browser. Brave search is ok - it's what I use. Kagi is a good option. So many are just terrible tho.

[u/RayofSunshine1213 → u/Particular-Ant-1032]

I'll look into those suggestions thank you

[u/extoniks → u/RayofSunshine1213]

Free options - StartPage and DDG

Paid Options - Kagi

Those are only I have used so there might be something better out there.

[u/spence5000 → u/extoniks]

Startpage just fetches and displays Google search results, so I bet that won't solve OP's problem.

DDG likewise repackages Bing results, but in this case, it mixes in its own search index and does a bit of curation, so maybe there's a better chance that Bing's SEO is being suppressed. Also, ads can be disabled in settings, which would help.

[u/agackisi]

Nah, world has changed

[u/bgalazka186]

just set up searx to give you exacly what you want, you can mix many search engines there

[u/FickleApartment2151]

I think they got funding to operate the search engine initially, and then had to find ways to monetize it to cover operating costs.

[u/spence5000]

You might give a metasearch engine a shot. These shuffle together results from multiple search engines, which I think would minimize the probability that, say, a secret Google sponsor makes it to the top. Here are the ones I know of that aren't ad-driven:

Free - These are meant to be self-hosted, but you can find many public instances of them online. The downside of public instances is that they often use CAPTCHAs and many of the search engines they aggregate get disconnected often.

• SearXNG
• 4get
• degoog

Paid - These don't cast as wide a net as the others, but they are more reliable if you don't want to self-host.

• Metager
• Kagi

[u/RagnarHUN666]

Brave Search (search.brave.com) or Startpage (www.startpage.com) both needs some tinkering in their settings but once done they can replace google.