You should probably use Tor instead of DuckDuckGo - DuckDuckGo started sharing user data with Microsoft in 2021, so it's no longer a truly private search-engine.
Tor, on the other hand, has pretty much all web-traffic encrypted several times over, and allows you to access the Deep Web (the vast 95% of the web not covered by normal search-engines like Google), and allows for anonymous browsing on the surface web (i.e. you won't be tracked). It's also pretty safe to use as long as you're not an absolute idiot with cybersecurity (just don't share any personal info that can be used to track or find you, and you're pretty much good to go) - if you're still unsure, top it off with a VPN (i recommend Proton VPN - it's bkth free and highly-reputable).
I know a thing or two about online anonymity and how to do it; I hope you find this tip useful :>
