SEO Basics for DuckDuckGo: How to Optimize for This Search Engine

If you are looking to increase your website's visibility on DuckDuckGo, you need to understand the basics of SEO. 

This guide will help you learn how to make your website SEO-friendly and give it a better chance of ranking higher on DuckDuckGo's search engine.

Understand What DuckDuckGo Is and How It Works.

DuckDuckGo is a search engine that focuses on providing the most relevant results to its users through its proprietary technology. It uses many of the same signals as other popular search engines such as Google but has some unique quirks based on its own algorithms. 

To succeed in DuckDuckGo, you need to understand how this search engine works and make sure your website takes advantage of all available ranking factors.

Privacy Simplified

As privacy issues continue to rise, DuckDuckGo has been quietly attracting users to their search engine and generating more traffic. While more people are beginning to care about how their information is collected and shared, DuckDuckGo shines brighter in the face of the growing privacy concern. This is because of how it protects user data.

DuckDuckGo is a privacy-focused search engine that does not collect user data, does not track users across the web, and does not use targeted ads.

Its mantra is simple, “no tracking, no ad targeting, just searching.”

While it is not clear how search engines and social media will develop in the future, and as concerns continue to rise around data protection and privacy rights, SEOs need to consider how they can incorporate the methods and techniques of new players within the field in the search engines of the future. 

Being the dominant search engine for present privacy-focused internet users and those of the future, DuckDuckGo and its growth offer a notable insight into how search engines might look to prioritize in the future since search engine personalization and tracking may be here forever.

How DuckDuckGo Works

DuckDuckGo provides results to queries from about 400 different sources, which include:

• Information crawled by DuckDuckBot
• Results from partners including Bing and Yahoo
• Crowdsourced websites such as Wikipedia

It also has instant answers from its open-source platform that allows users to send in answers to specific queries that are served based on a question. 

Due to its focus on online privacy, DuckDuckGo does not know the specific location of the searcher. So to provide local results for things like local services, businesses, or information.

DuckDuckGo uses a GEO: IP lookup to find users’ approximate location, unlike Google which uses IP addresses and cookies. 

However, if DuckDuckGo thinks you are in a different location because this process isn’t always accurate, you might get irrelevant results. Hence, DuckDuckGo prompts users to share their location for more accurate results.

Note that DuckDuckGo does not store this information.

How to Approach SEO for DuckDuckGo

Apart from the traditional SEO methods, only very little is known about optimizing for DuckDuckGo.

However, according to DuckDuckGo, the best way to get good rankings is to get links from high-quality sites. This indicates how important growing your quality backlink profile is to rank on DuckDuckGo since they mentioned it specifically.   

Also, because of the uncertainty of DuckDuckGo when it comes to local results and the likely reluctance of users to share their location information, SEOs should consider optimizing for location modifiers in the search result and not depend on the search engine to serve results for general terms. 

Know what searchers might be looking for and optimize specifically for local keyword variants to appear for users searching locally.

Optimize Your Title Tags.

One of the most important elements of SEO for DuckDuckGo is title tags. Title tags provide search engines with a quick insight into what your page is about and help give them an indication of relevance. 

Keep your titles as specific as possible, and include the keywords you are trying to target in your title tag. 

Ensure your titles are no longer than 70 characters, to ensure that they display properly on DuckDuckGo's results pages.

Improve Readability & Quality of Content.

Making sure your content is as readable and high-quality as possible is key when optimizing for DuckDuckGo. 

To improve the quality of your web pages, use meaningful headings and subheadings to break up large blocks of text, making it easier on the eyes of your readers. Use images and videos to further illustrate your points, and keep paragraphs short and concise for optimal readability. 

Additionally, use plenty of reliable sources when writing about data-driven topics to ensure accuracy.

Optimize Meta Descriptions for CTR on DDG SERPs.

Writing the perfect meta description is a great way to increase the click-through rate (CTR) on DuckDuckGo's search engine results pages (SERPs). 

Meta descriptions should be around 160 characters, contain relevant keywords, and include persuasive language to encourage users to click through. 

Additionally, share your unique value proposition or call-to-action in the description to entice visitors.

Add Structured Data to Enhance Organic Visibility in DuckDuckGo Searches.

Structured data is a great way to inform a search engine of important information about your webpage and can increase organic visibility on DuckDuckGo. 

Examples of structured data include Schema.org and JSON-LD, which can be used to give additional context to the page. 

This includes elements such as reviews, ratings, events, and more, which will help make it easier for DuckDuckGo's crawlers to understand your website and display the relevant information when searchers query the keywords associated with your page.

DuckDuckGo Marketing Strategy

Make sure to optimize for Bing and Oath (formally Yahoo) since DuckDuckGo pulls results from them. This is something you should already be doing since they have considerable market shares too.

With the increasing popularity of DuckDuckGo among privacy-focused searchers, websites should look to appear here. 

However, there’s no special secret or trick to optimizing for DuckDuckGo. You only need to concentrate on attracting quality links, use local modifiers, and optimize for search engines that DuckDuckGo uses. 

To receive a free DuckDuckGo SEO analysis, call us at 855-750-0583. We will provide a timeline, cost, and strategy to help you reach your goals.