Google's widespread tracking across the web (simpleanalytics.com)

This title is highly misleading, implying that Google tracks DuckDuckGo searches directly, which isn’t true. It also reinforces a conspiracy theory that we’re owned by Google, which also of course isn’t true. Kindly please change it to be more accurate about Google analytics and other Google trackers on websites you may visit.

We’ve been sounding the alarm about Google analytics, tag manager, and other Google trackers for years and why we started making our own extensions and browsers to block them and provide more comprehensive protection. On our homepage and everywhere else we can we try to get people to install those to get that additional protection, which you can compare here: https://duckduckgo.com/compare-privacy

Let's face reality: as soon as you browse the internet, you will be tracked and identified. Here are just a few data points used for fingerprinting:

IP address, User-Agent string, Referrer URL, Requested URL, Language, Locale, Screen resolution, Time zone, System time, Installed fonts, Installed plugins, Cookie data, Browser fingerprint, Canvas fingerprint, WebGL fingerprint, AudioContext fingerprint, Mouse movements, Click paths, Keyboard input timing, History sniffing, DNS queries, Destination IP addresses, HTTP traffic content, HTTPS metadata (host, SNI, timing), MAC address, Query parameters, Session ID, Login status, User account info, Geolocation (via IP), Geolocation (via browser API), Page interaction data, Time on page, Scroll behavior, Clicks, Form submissions, Browser type, OS type, Network provider, Client ID (\_ga cookie), Session ID, Timestamp, Pages visited, UTM parameters, Interaction events, Google Ad ID, DoubleClick cookie (IDE), Cross-site behavior, Cross-device behavior, Inferred demographics, Mouse tracking, Scroll depth, Video interactions, Audio interactions, Session replay, Keystroke logging, Facebook login status, Pixel events (Meta, LinkedIn, etc)

If you want to avoid that, you need to make a real effort (not just using DuckDuckGo). The Tails operating system might be a good place to start.

No they don't. My PiHole and uBlock Origin stops it.

Isn't DDG a Bing wrapper?

User tracking only exists because it generates money. We should ban the entire practice. No more targeted ads (with very little exceptions).

> Even in countries with strict laws like the GDPR, Google's trackers are still everywhere. That raises questions about how effective these regulations really are in practice.

This is basically it. GDPR is a stupid unenforceable law, and should be wiped from the books. Try again with something new.

I clicked on this expecting an interesting read, but the big reveal was...

Google analytics??

In the case of this particular website, perhaps Google tracks you less, but you get tracked by `https://test-v1.adriaan.com` — whatever that means.

9: <script src="https://test-v1.adriaan.com/script-v1.js" async></script>

https://test-v1.adriaan.com/simple.gif?type=event&hostname=t... Gecko/20100101 Firefox/128.0&version=test-2025-04-22-v2&event=onload&path=/blog/google-is-tracking-you-even-when-you-use-duck-duck-go&referrer=&session_id=ab6ceafa-47c1-48e4-b26b-79148e625a15&metadata={"beacon_ok":true,"keepalive_ok":false,"ts_ms":1752496007219,"send_method":"image"}&t=1752496007219

So the correct title must be: "We track you when you're reading about Google tracking you (even when using DuckDuckGo)."

This is an obvious, thinly-veiled advertisement for a company's services. It's widely known that ad companies track you everywhere by many mechanisms. This is why we use ad blockers of all sorts. This has nothing to do with DuckDuckGo, it's merely used as a vehicle to get clicks.

A lot of browser's have tracking blocked and there will be a icon in the top bar which will show this.

And many vpns also offer an option to block trackers and ads before they get to you.

I really wish we could change the search engine in apple products directly to Kagi instead of leaking searches through DuckDuckGo