DuckDuckGo

I'm not a fan of Google, and Bing is owned by Microsoft (so say no more!).  My unease about Google was heightened when I read in Computer Choice that it's a good idea to sign out of Gmail before using Google search.   The article didn't give reasons for this, but implied  that information is cross-referred in some way.  Who knows........???

In fact, I sometimes don't use Google as such, but use instead "Give Me Back My Google" (http://www.givemebackmygoogle.com/) .    Apparently this it filters the advertisements out from Google.  So far as I can tell, it seems to do this effectively - but presumably, deep down, it's still Google.

So, my mind was receptive when Computer Choice mentioned DuckDuckGo was a good search engine (see http://duckduckgo.com/ ).   It said that, "It offers privacy and organic [real] search results rather than advertising - or profile - based searches that modify results based on data the search engine has gained about you".
 
This all sounded good, so I've been experimenting with DuckDuckGo.    So far, I can definitely vouch for the fact that it doesn't appear to have profiled me.  But believe it or not, I am now in two minds as to whether "real search results" are in fact such a good thing!   For example, if I'm searching for reviews about a particular product that I may be interested in, Bing and Google know that I'm based in Australia and tend to send me local reviews.  However, DuckDuckGo "follows the crowd" and the results are often overwhelmingly North American.   And I suspect, also, that DuckDuckGo might not have the underlying "oomph" that Google has so as to be able to locate all relevant sites.

I'm still deciding whether I ought to persevere with this, and try to be more specific with my searching (such as including the word "Australia" in my search query).  Or is at all too hard?  I fear that I've become quite accustomed to not having to think too hard when searching, so looks like it may be back to Bing and GMBMG!