11 Search Engine Alternatives Ranking Now
As digital marketers, we often fixate on Google when striving for traffic, and with good reason. Google dominates as the most popular search engine, holding over 80% of the search market share. However, solely focusing on Google can leave you missing out on other critical traffic opportunities. In this post, we'll delve into the top 11 search engines worldwide, ensuring you've got a comprehensive list to discuss in your next SEO meeting.
Disclaimer: Our list is based on the worldwide market share of search engines on desktop and mobile from November 2021 to November 2022.
- Google
Unsurprisingly, Google reigns supreme with over 80% of the search market share and almost 95% of mobile traffic. While the large traffic potential makes Google an appealing option, remember that everyone is vying for the same traffic. Moreover, Google's algorithm, like featured snippets, aims to fulfill users' needs directly on their platform, possibly making it harder for you to capture the desired website traffic. - Bing
As Google's primary competitor, Bing secures 15% of U.S. searches and powers Yahoo!, the third-largest search engine in the country. With a similar layout to Google, Bing differentiates itself by offering "Rewards"—a program that lets users earn points for searching or shopping on the engine, which can be redeemed for gift cards, nonprofit donations, and more. - Yahoo!
Despite a less polished interface, Yahoo! manages to claim third place on our list, holding just under 3% of the worldwide market share. Powered by Bing, search results between the two search engines are strikingly similar. Nevertheless, Yahoo! remains a significant player with over 600 million total monthly users. - Yandex
Yandex, the Russian search engine, holds around 2% of the worldwide market share. It is the top search engine in Russia, with Google in the second spot. If you're targeting Russian customers, keep in mind that Yandex displays quality indicators, like the site quality index (SQI), alongside search results. Additionally, Yandex considers local intent when displaying results, so you'll need to set a site region in Yandex's webmaster tools. - DuckDuckGo
For those concerned about targeted ads or data storage, DuckDuckGo is an attractive option. As "The search engine that doesn't track you," DuckDuckGo doesn't collect or store any personal information. While it still features ads, they aren't personalized. Its clean interface and growing popularity, with an average of 94,758,414 daily direct searches as of September 2022, make it an appealing alternative search engine. - Baidu
Capturing over 63% of the Chinese market, Baidu is the country's largest search engine. Resembling Google in appearance and functionality, Baidu focuses on incorporating rich features in its search engine results pages (SERPs). For those interested in targeting the Asian market, Baidu is worth considering. However, be aware that the search engine censors certain content and provides less comprehensive results compared to Google search. - Ask.com
Previously known as Ask Jeeves, Ask.com is designed to answer users' questions. With a mission to "enable curious people to find the information they need," Ask.com is a standalone search engine that generates most of its traffic from users in the United States (51.8%, to be precise). - Naver
Naver is South Korea's second most popular search engine, claiming 28.81% of the market share. Entirely in Korean and without an English version, Naver offers more than just search capabilities. Users can access news content, search suggestions, and more. As a localized search engine, Naver doesn't crawl and catalog the entire internet.
If you're targeting the South Korean market, ensure your SEO aligns with the criteria of this popular search engine. - Ecosia
Ecosia, "the search engine that plants trees," donates profits from searches to plant trees in vulnerable areas. To date, Ecosia has funded 146 million trees. Though it's growing in popularity worldwide and holding 0.11% of the search engine market share, it's particularly popular in Germany, where the company is based. Like Yahoo!, Ecosia is powered by Bing. - AOL
AOL, formerly America Online, functions as both an online media company and a search engine. Its interface includes a search bar, national news articles, and local news and weather. AOL generates most of its traffic from the United States, accounting for 86.38% of its user base. - Internet Archive
Internet Archive is a unique search engine, providing a free archive of books, movies, software, music, websites, and more. Users can sign up for a free account and upload their content to the archives, rather than attempting to rank as they would with other search engines. While most of Internet Archive's audience is based in the United States, the search engine is gaining traction in other countries like Great Britain and India.
In conclusion, it's crucial to explore alternative traffic opportunities beyond Google when crafting an SEO strategy. Diversifying your sources increases your chances of appearing on the first page of SERPs and puts you in a better position to find your ideal target audience. Discover new traffic opportunities by leveraging alternative search engines that respect your search history, provide advanced search options, and offer unique internet search experiences that cater to different audiences worldwide.
So, next time you're discussing SEO, make sure to consider these other popular search engines as well
