For those who are still using google, this recently added search query strips all of the extras from Google search, leaving behind just the links!

What is &udm=14?

Browser search query: https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14

  • Echo Dot
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    2 days ago

    you can Google through Kagi to help protect privacy.

    Couldn’t you just pay for VPN and have the same benefit?

    I think that is the basis of the reason people think that the whole thing is a bit weird. If you’re already paying for a VPN, which presumably you are if you’re the sort of person who pays for search, then you’re already protected. So why do you also pay for search?

    • darreninthenet@lemmy.sdf.org
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      2 days ago

      You sort of didn’t read my whole post and just looked at the last bit - I pay for excellent search results with Kagi, the fact it’s also private (because I pay) is a bonus. However for local searches, I find Kagi is a bit US centric, so a simple !g bang operator gives me a private search through Google which still excels at these types of things… for anyway, who knows what Kagi has up their sleeves 🤷🏻‍♂️

      A VPN with Google would still give me rubbish Google search results and marginal privacy against Google’s algorithms (their fingerprinting likely knows it’s me anyway), and I’d need to keep switching it on and off to make full use of my 1gb/s cable internet speed.