You need to keep in mind that HN is a bubble. The responses here do not represent the masses.

Yes, most people will search for 'insurance quotes' and click an ad.

Yes? Why are you asking us to keep that in mind?

> Does anyone here even really use Google's search engine anymore?

Yeah. Plenty of people do.

I know I do when searching for PDFs because DuckDuckGo randomly ignores "filetype:pdf" when it feels like it, and also sometimes ignores word in the the query that are within quotes.

It's also not great with localised results, at least in many parts of the world.

My first preference is DDG, but it's not perfect.

Maybe that's the point. Google is much so much easier that even if I want to read article on Wikipedia, I still search it first on Google.

I don't use Google's search engine, but I do use search engines heavily. Unlike you, I rarely know what site will have what I'm looking for in advance -- it's rarely SO, Wikipedia, or maps.

Just out of morbid curiosity, _what_ kind of things are you usually looking for?

A very wide variety of things, actually. I have eclectic tastes. But most often, it's programming or electronic-related stuff.