Is there a better search program we should be using instead of Safari?

Safari is just a browser. You can search the web any way you want. By default Safari uses Google, but you can change it in Safari's preferences to default to a different search engine:

Hello ~ It’s up to you. Under Safari-> Preferences->Search you have four choices for the default search engine to use. Try each one for a while and decide which one you like the best. Also take a look here:

Safari, helping - Apple Support

~Katana-San~