Viewing ads is privacy protected by DuckDuckGo.
We partner with many different information sources to deliver DuckDuckGo Search (e.g., Yelp for local business ads, Apple for maps, etc.). When you view search results (including ads), your searches cannot be tied back to you, either by us or our partners. How this works technically is we do not store any personal identifiers (e.g., IP address) with your search terms, and we also proxy all requests to partners through us.
Whenever you interact with ads and leave our site, you are subject to other sites’ policies, including their data collection practices. For ads from Yelp, you also pass through Yelp’s advertising platform.
For more info, please read our Privacy Policy.
Local business ad clicks go through Yelp’s ad network.
Most interactions with a Yelp ad on the search results page (for example, clicking to make a reservation, or order food) will redirect you to the Yelp listing for that business, where you’ll be subject to Yelp’s terms of service and privacy policy. In one case, however – placing a phone call to a business using the “Call” button – you will not be redirected through Yelp and your ad interaction will be registered anonymously via a ping to Yelp from DuckDuckGo’s servers with all personal information removed (e.g., IP address).
Other search engines associate your ad-click behavior with a profile on you, which can be used later to target ads to you on that search engine or around the Internet. By contrast, when you interact with Yelp ads on DuckDuckGo, Yelp cannot see your search query and does not associate your behavior with a user profile. It also does not store or share ad-click information other than for accounting purposes, and fraud prevention.
Prior versions on GitHub.