Ads on DuckDuckGo

[1210_bex]

I have used DuckDuckGo for several years, even before Pale Moon chose it as the default search engine. But I don't remember all the advertisements that I see now--in fact, that was one of the things that attracted me to DuckDuckGo.

The 1st attachment is what I see when I search for a product (thermal underwear in this case). I get a whole horizontal string of ads (photos & text) from Amazon. There is also an 'ad' from Wikipedia (although some might not classify this as an ad, it is set off by itself, rather than in the normal list of choices). Also note that a new tab has been added at the header row, titled 'Products', and that is the tab that opens when I do this search.

The 2nd attachment shows what I get when I search on a retail company name; in this case Home Depot. I again get the Wikipedia 'ad', but this time YouTube and Instagram links to Home Depot have been added.

The third attachment is the DuckDuckGo Settings page. I have turned Off the 'Advertisements' option. I would have thought that this would prevents the ads that I have been getting, but it does not.

I don't know what version of DuckDuckGo I have on my Windows 7 computers, and I cannot find any place that lists the version number. I see that Pale Moon has automatically checked that it be updated whenever a new version comes out, so I assume that is what I have on these computers.

So how do I get rid of these distracting ads?


Harry

[adisib]

These aren't advertisements, but you can still remove them easily with the duckduckgo settings.

This is the "Instant Answers" feature. You can disable that on the settings page if you find them annoying. Note that this disables ALL instant answer functionality. So you can't do "2+2" and have it calculate the result for you, or do "define definition" to simply and easily get what the definition of "definition" is, if you want to remove wikipedia and amazon as suggestions for what you are looking for.

Edit: I should also note that if I remember correctly, Pale Moon does receive some money from duckduckgo, but only if you have advertisements enabled. So if you don't have a strong feeling towards having the advertisements gone, you may want to consider enabling them to support Pale Moon.

[1210_bex]

adisib:

Thanks for the great tip. I disabled 'Instant Answers' (with 'Advertisements' still disabled), and the result is just what I want--a list without any graphics. I can still access the ads and images if I wish by clicking the Products tab.

I understand your comment about some money perhaps going to Pale Moon, and I certainly want to support their efforts. So I enabled 'Advertisements' and ran a few trials. What I got was just the list. There were no ads. I assumed every search would bring one or more ads. So do ads only appear periodically?

And perhaps someone with Pale Moon can confirm if they get some money when 'Advertisements' are turned on.


Harry

[adisib]

So I enabled 'Advertisements' and ran a few trials. What I got was just the list. There were no ads. I assumed every search would bring one or more ads. So do ads only appear periodically?

There are not always advertisements present, depending on what you are searching for. When searching I get zero to two advertisements which are placed either at the top of the search results, or on the side where the wikipedia box is. These are marked with a square containing "AD" at the end of the result title, as well as a "Report Ad" link at the bottom of the result. They aren't intrusive, but blend in with the normal search results. If you never see any, it is possible that they are being blocked by an extension, which will have the same effect as turning them off.

And perhaps someone with Pale Moon can confirm if they get some money when 'Advertisements' are turned on.

As an aside, using DDG from within Pale Moon does provide indirect support for Pale Moon development, through a revenue share on the ads DDG displays along with the search results; so if you wish to use DDG out of a sense of wanting to contribute that way, it's a valid consideration (and appreciated!).

Source: viewtopic.php?t=4016#p23775

[1210_bex]

adisib:

There are not always advertisements present, depending on what you are searching for. When searching I get zero to two advertisements which are placed either at the top of the search results, or on the side where the wikipedia box is. These are marked with a square containing "AD" at the end of the result title, as well as a "Report Ad" link at the bottom of the result. They aren't intrusive, but blend in with the normal search results. If you never see any, it is possible that they are being blocked by an extension, which will have the same effect as turning them off.

Thanks for that information. I have UBlock Origin, so before my last post, I disabled it, but still no ads. So I probably was not searching for the correct items. I'll see how it goes in the future.

As an aside, using DDG from within Pale Moon does provide indirect support for Pale Moon development, through a revenue share on the ads DDG displays along with the search results; so if you wish to use DDG out of a sense of wanting to contribute that way, it's a valid consideration (and appreciated!).
Source: viewtopic.php?t=4016#p23775

I read the thread. I obviously I missed in several years ago.


Harry