Thanks Andrea.

I have a feeling that many factors caused DuckDuckGo's fame, including it's Reddit challenge, spread page and just plain great surfing experience. I think that DuckDuckGo is just one of those few things that grow popular because they deserve to. In his blog, ye.gg/blog, he explains some of these factors. I believe that DuckDuckGo's community helped quite a bit, like how it got best search engine on about.com, where people have to vote for the winners. Of course, it's silly logo and name helped a bit, I bet. I think that becuase it is such a great search engine with such a great name, it got on the press so much. I kind of know how it is because I, myself, run a search engine. In fact it's a social search engine. It's called Dumb Search.

They put a billboard on the highway and everyone started using it.

Welcome to the forums, msandee68 and Andrew Warner!

I think the DuckDuckGo traffic chart really explains the main factors that propelled DuckDuckGo's increase in traffic since April 2010 best.

Here are links to pages relating to the events noted in the chart:

• DontTrack.us
• DuckDuckGo's San Fransico billboard
• DontBubble.us
• Time Top 50 Websites
  
• DuckDuckGo's Union Square Ventures investment
• DuckDuckGo's addition to Opera
• DuckDuckGo's Reddit challenge

In terms of DDG's features, I think privacy was the biggest draw, then !bangs and goodies.

Moderator

Easy to understand.
   Someone finds DDG and discovers a clever trick in the searching. They brag about it to a friend.
Friend tries it, and tells another. I have never seen DDG on the social sites. But I do get emails about
it from people I trust.

Anseres sonitum nullus terret.
(The sound of geese frightens no one.)

I'm probably one of the older contributors here at duck.co.

When I found DDG I was impressed with it's clean look.

I liked the home page and the way the results were displayed.

I also liked the relevance of the search results.

The bangs were rather unique to me at the time, but now I have a number of them that I would be hard pressed to live without at this point.

The longer I used DDG the settings features became one of my favorite things. I believe yegg gives his users more personal settings than any website on the internet. Each user can personalize their page to suit their taste. This feature keeps getting better all the time.

I was also intrigued by the thought that someone would design a product around users input thru this site and the feedback button. He really listens to his users and it is amazing how much DDG has evolved since he started duck.co.

It is almost like a drug. I come here every day with anticipation to see what the creative minds here have come up with. I can't wait for the next round of changes to come out whether it is a new group of bangs, many of which I will never use or a new user preference setting.

The 0-click feature is great. Many times the information that you are seeking is right there. The other results are typically relative, as well.

Oh...then there is the privacy thing and the no bubble thing. I don't need people invading my privacy and I certainly don't need some computer deciding what I'm looking for.

To coin a phrase from this generation....DDG is the bomb!

I almost forgot how I found DDG. Yegg will let me add his search box to my websites and customize the way it looks and behaves to suite my users. It adds a great deal of value to my sites and it helps spread DDG, as well.

Finally, I've never met him in person but all indications from here are that Gabriel is a great guy!

GO DUCK!

Thanks everyone for the detailed answers! Most appreciated. 

i found it through wikipedia and spread it to everybody i came in contact with.

Oh, I found DDG by searching "alternatives to toogle" on google.com.

I got some results and among them I chose an article saying something like "a search engine protecting your privacy". It linked to donttrack.us and dontbubble.us. Both confirmed the feeling I had about the "filter bubble".

So the best way to spread it, is to speak about the importance of searching without being under pressure or a big brother. A not so famous Italian song says: "your search engine knows very well who you are".
Is this the case? I guess DDG doesn't.

This older topic might also be helpful:
http://duck.co/topic/how-did-you-first-hear-about-duckduckgo

Moderator

Guys, thanks for all this input. It was incredibly helpful. I think I asked him about every single point you brought up. The interview will be edited today and posted on mixergy.com next week.

How many people use DuckDuckGo now?

The Mixergy DuckDuckGo interview is live:

Thanks @AGreenEarth for the link.

I loved the interview.

There is so much good stuff in it I don't know where to begin.

I'll just say everyone should watch.

It was also cool to be quoted, as well.