I just type !sp + searchterm into my search bar and it searches via startpage.com, which uses googles search results without my IP address or searches being recorded, no identifying or tracking cookies are used and SSL encryption is set by default.

But this would foil what OP expects from google, a.k.a. to be geolocalized and tracked to be served personalized results.

I switched last December and do exactly that and am very happy with that solution.

I'm really surprised that the author did not try this option.

i'm doing that too, ddg have no picture search, right?

unless you count !image, which redirects to GIS.

!gi is shorter :)