Something I noticed with google set as default search
You hand-type a URL. You don't always get the URL.
Google doesn't give you the URL. It gives you their "search results" of the URL
which sometimes doesn't contain the actual URL.
I use Firefox with separate URL---search bars set.
(Settings > Search > Add search bar in toolbar)
Right now I use metacrawler as my default search.
(You will need the addon "Add custom search engine" for Firefox to install metacrawler as default)
.
You will need a search URL like https://www.metacrawler.com/search?q=%s
or https://www.metacrawler.com/serp?q=%s to install metacrawler as a custom search engine
.
metacrawler works best with the addon uBlockOrigin (add blocker) installed
https://www.metacrawler.com/
on Firefox (settings > search > Add search bar in toolbar)
install uBlockOrigin
install "Add custom search engine"
Install metacrawler as a search engine
You will need a search URL like https://www.metacrawler.com/search?q=%s
or https://www.metacrawler.com/serp?q=%s
make metacrawler the default search
Then -- do some side-by-side searches with google
With a recent Firefox it gives you the option to use your other search engines
when you click on the search window.