If you have not heard of DuckDuckGo yet, the chances are you will do soon. Apple’s iOS 8 can enable users to switch their default search engine preference to this brand-new search engine option. It is all about optimizing privacy and taking a stance against profiling. Not only is every single user shown the same results for phrases or keywords, but it’s also the search engine for users who want the highest quality sources, meaning that they value quality over quantity.
Based in Pennsylvania, DuckDuckGo only has 20 employees, so it’s no surprise to learn that free software was used to create the coding and Perl 5 licensing.
Now that you have an idea of what this new search engine is all about, here are a few tips that you can use to your advantage to increase your website ranking in DuckDuckGo.
All About the Users
Instead of focusing on the search engine optimization issue, let’s focus on what is important to all search engines such as Google and DuckDuckGo. It is all about the users.
Gabriel Weinberg (CEO of DuckDuckGo) was interviewed in September of 2014 by Elle Schwartz asking why users should pick DuckDuckGo over other competitors. Weinberg’s answer mainly focused on the most important part of the business, the users. Weinberg stated that the company focuses on less clutter, real privacy, and smarter answers, believing that a significant amount of people would rather use private alternatives where they can receive fantastic service without being monitored. In other words, where they can receive the benefits of privacy without sacrificing quality.
As he referred to the benefits, quality and great service, you would believe that DuckDuckGo cares about its users. You may be asking, why is this important? Search engine optimization is not about hacks and techniques, instead, it’s about developing interesting websites with high functionality, a fantastic user experience, and next to no spam.
Earn Quality Links
Link building has been demonized and vilified since time began. The problem is down to the term’s connotation, rather than the actual technique of collecting high-quality backlinks. Just like with any other search engine, DuckDuckGo uses link profile data when ranking a website. The official community of DuckDuckGo explained that ranking is difficult to communicate on an individual query basis. The reason for this is because of the various factors that are involved.
The best way to get good rankings (in search engines) is to collect links from websites that are high-quality, such as Wikipedia. In other words, while the company cannot tell you how to rank well, they state how to get good links. You can be certain that websites with more high-quality links are much more likely to rank higher than websites with lesser and fewer quality links.
Semantic Search Strategies
DuckDuckGo is a clever search engine to use. Just like with Bing and Google, DuckDuckGo solely depends on an evolved contextual library for understanding the user’s intent. It’s now time to learn about semantic search strategies. When typing in ‘Search Engine Land’ on DuckDuckGo, you will find that the top two organic search results are from Search Engine Land while results 3-5 are properties of Search Engine Land. When looking at the sixth result, you will SEE Wikipedia. As one of the world’s top 10 websites, Wikipedia is always going to be prominently placed in any search engine results you use.
Use Hyperlocal Keywords
Unlike Google’s pigeon algorithm, DuckDuckGo uses a more generalized method when delivering local results. While we know that DuckDuckGo is not tracking your activity, Google is. DuckDuckGo doesn’t know where you are based in the world as they use GEO: IP lookup which means that they may be able to determine where you are roughly when given your IP address.
When you search for establishments near you such as a hairdresser, you are going to get businesses that are closer to the center when taking your GeoIP result into account, rather than your physical whereabouts. While there may be a hairdresser situated around the corner, DuckDuckGo does not know what corner you are closest to. The bottom line is that users will not be able to get as accurate results with DuckDuckGo than they would with Google.
While this may put you off, you should instead adapt to whatever other users are more likely to look for on DuckDuckGo. As the company does not track your precise location, it’s up to you as the user to let DuckDuckGo know where you are.
To get the best local results from users of DuckDuckGo, you should put hyperlocal terms in your website, describing where you are based, what is nearby, any roads, major intersections, neighborhoods, as well as any other regions that a user may input when searching for a local result.
Mobile Friendly
When you factor in the latest version of iOS, you must ensure that your website loads quickly and efficiently on all devices. In the present day, most people are using smart devices such as an Android or the latest iPhone to visit websites, so you need to ensure that your online presence is flawless and well established. There is a lot more to learn about SEO, which is why you should use a reputable firm to help you take charge, otherwise, you will not be able to keep up and your website will appear lower in search results.
With DuckDuckGo being one of the latest and upcoming search engines on the market, it’s important to bear in that mind that there is nothing truly new and different about optimizing your site for it. The same practices you use for improving your ranking lift in Bing and Google will most likely work for DuckDuckGo also.
While DuckDuckGo cannot access your exact whereabouts, there are many advantages that it can bring you that other competitors can’t. If you value your privacy and don’t want to lose out on quality, make sure that you check out DuckDuckGo to see whether it’s the right search engine option for you.
