Or just learn how to craft search queries on DDG (instead of google assuming it for you). Nothing wrong with DDG. Lot of people like it. Why shouldn't anyone suggest it to others?
The only way to surf/search without Google identifying you is to use a cloudbrowser. Because you are using a VM and a disposable browser, any search engine is getting incorrect info about you and your searches. It makes Google a private search engine. www.tracefree.com
DDG is unusable from keyboard alone. Whenever battery in my mouse runs out, I have to switch to something else. It's one of those web apps where designers disabled focus outlines, because they don't find them pretty.
They have their own shortcuts for the basics: j/k or arrows for jumping between entries, (ctrl+)enter to open (in background tab). Doesn't excuse hiding focus outlines though.
I've been using DuckDuckGo exclusively for almost 2 years now. Never had a problem. There were a couple times early on when I was like "these results are bad, lemme check Google", only to find out Google's results were pretty much the same. DDG just buys results from other providers, so their results are pretty much always going to be acceptable.
Edit: Just wanted to say I'm not try to discount your experience, I just don't want to dissuade future people from trying out other search engines, when I think switching search engines is one of the biggest and easiest privacy wins a lot of people can do.
Image search is subtly broken in the packaged releases tho, so you'll either have to hit up google image search or use the git version