DuckDuckGo and Perplexity vs. Google: ZDNet journalist switched search engines — and doesn't regret it

Google has turned into a stream of questionable AI answers, ads, and SEO content for ranking purposes. A ZDNet journalist spent several weeks without Google, using only DuckDuckGo and Perplexity — and called this combination the best search alternative available today.

What Happened to Google

Just a few years ago, Google remained the gold standard of search. Today, the picture has changed dramatically. The first search results page is dominated by AI Overviews — automatically generated summaries that Google displays above regular results.

The problem is that these summaries regularly fail: they present outdated data, mix facts from different sources, or hallucinate. Below the AI block begins advertising. After that come SEO-optimized materials written for algorithms, not people.

To get to a real answer, you have to wade through several layers of content created for ranking purposes. The search engine that positioned itself as an "organizer of world information" is turning into an advertising platform with an AI facade. This is what prompted the ZDNet journalist to conduct an experiment: for several weeks completely abandon Google and test alternatives under real conditions.

Why DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo became the primary search engine for everyday tasks. Its key advantage is the absence of tracking and personalization: no user profiles, no filter bubbles, identical results for everyone on the same query. For routine queries — addresses, schedules, prices, company websites — this is quite sufficient:

• Search without tracking and personal profiling
• Neutral results — results do not depend on search history
• Instant answers from Wolfram Alpha, Wikipedia, currency databases and weather
• Bang-commands for quick navigation: !yt for YouTube, !w for Wikipedia, !g for Google
• No AI Overviews — you immediately see a list of sources without an intermediary

DuckDuckGo doesn't claim to replace Google everywhere. But on most everyday queries it performs just as well, while without the feeling that your search is being tracked.

Where Perplexity is Irreplaceable

For complex analytical questions requiring current and verifiable data, the journalist switched to Perplexity. This AI search engine is of a fundamentally different type: it doesn't just aggregate links, but builds a structured answer based on real web pages — with quotes and clickable sources under each statement.

The fundamental difference from Google AI Overview: Perplexity always shows where each specific piece of information comes from, and allows you to verify the source in one click.

"Perplexity gives me exactly what I expect from search: a direct

answer with explanation and links, not a page with ads at the top."

The service is especially effective on technical and scientific questions, when choosing products, in medical queries — anywhere where data currency is critical. Perplexity indexes the web in real time and marks sources with publication dates.

What This Means

One journalist, several weeks, subjective observations — there's no rigorous methodology here. But the experiment reflects a real trend: users who can evaluate result quality increasingly notice Google's degradation and look for alternatives. The DuckDuckGo + Perplexity combination is not a universal replacement, but a workable strategy: the first covers quick everyday queries, the second — deep search with source verification. Google's search monopoly faces a real challenge for the first time in a decade.