Some months ago I was so disgusted with Google Search that I decided to give up Google forever!
But… after spending a month with each search engine, they all have their own problems. Like, above, I’m doing a search for who sells Devoa (a Japanese clothes brand) in New York, and none of the results from duckduckgo are relevant: Most of them have “autocorrected” my search to “devo” instead, and the one that does talk about Devoa isn’t relevant for my New York search.
Whereas Google just nails it: The first and third are shops in New York that stock Devoa, and the second is a web page at Devoa that lists those shops, too.
Duckduckgo gets is data from Bing, so it’s weird that it’s this bad, because Bing itself is slightly better (and has the correct answer, Self Edge as the fifth answer, which requires some scrolling).
So… while Google search is much worse than it used to be, I haven’t found any search engine that’s actually better than Google Search now for everyday searches. The reason I switched was that Google has pruned their search index, so if you’re searching for something really obscure, it won’t show up in their search results at all (while it will show up on Bing). But Google does shine when you’re searching for something normal, and I do a lot more normal searches than obscure ones, so…
*sigh*
I’m just using this search as an example, but it’s typical. I found that I have to go to Google explicitly so many times over these months that it’s not even funny.
So I’m back with Google search. Even if it’s horrible now, the alternatives are somehow even worse.
Yay shiny future.
Try a metasearch website such as SearXNG.
There are dozens of public ones at https://searx.space/
Your request will be sent anonymously to several of the big search engines. Different links may use different upstream search engines which will be indicated in the reply, as coming from Google, DuckDuckGo, Qwant, etc.
Try Kagi. Yep, it costs money. With search set to ‘US’ as country I get
‘shopuntitled.com’
‘ssense.com’
‘thewrap.com’ (because of the band ‘devo’)
‘devoa.jp’
‘selfedge.com’
However, you might also help DDG a tiny bit simply giving it a bit more context. ‘stores new york devoa’ will already greatly improve the results.
In the end though, I agree that DDG often times simply utterly fails, especially for non-US searches.
Another vote for Kagi. I have my country set to Finland, and the results are a mix of Devoa and Devo stuff. The top result is shopuntitled.com, same as your Google top result. If I type ‘q’ to get a Quick Summary it tells me the following, which seems to be based exclusively on clothing-brand results.
> DEVOA is a high-fashion brand based in Tokyo, founded by Daisuke Nishida in 2005. The brand is known for its artisanal clothing and knitwear for men, emphasizing unique designs that often explore the relationship between materials, patterns, and human anatomy[1][2].
>
> In New York, DEVOA is represented by select stockists that offer a curated selection of its avant-garde apparel. The brand’s offerings include a variety of clothing that reflects a blend of traditional craftsmanship and innovative design[3][4]. DEVOA’s collections often focus on the concept of “Destruction and Construction,” examining how clothing can influence body balance and movement[5].
>
> For those interested in shopping DEVOA in New York, it is advisable to check local boutiques or online platforms that specialize in avant-garde fashion34.
>
> References
> [1] Devoa – Self Edge http://www.selfedge.com
> [2] Devoa clothing for Men – SSENSE http://www.ssense.com
> [3] DEVOA – NYC – Shop Untitled http://www.shopuntitled.com
> [4] Devoa Stockists. – RAW Looks rawlooks.com
> [5] STOCKIST DEVOA – Destruction and Construction – 2024-25 F/W devoa.jp