The 3 Search Engines You Should Know About – Besides Google

When it comes to the conversation of searching online, Google is king. With over 90% of the search engine market share, over 63,000 searches per second, a market value of $739 billion, it makes sense that when people are optimizing their website for search or paying for search ads, Google is the first place they go. However, Google is not the only search engine out there, and as a marketer or a business owner, it’s important to not get tunnel vision by focusing only on that.

Google’s personalized experience comes at the expense of sharing personal data, and some users prefer to use different browsers because of privacy concerns, while others may be using a different search engine simply because it’s the default on their browser setting. Keep reading to find out the top search engines besides Google you should know about.

Bing

Last year we wrote a blog post called “Who Uses Bing” – because it was a question we often got from our clients. We found out that Bing is the second largest search engine in the world and nearly a third of PC searches are done through Bing. Bing has the unique advantage of being the default search engine on all Microsoft products. For those using personal computers at home, or even those using it at work in corporate offices where they have Microsoft products, many will be using Bing as their default search engine.

Also, the typical user on Bing skews older (average user is between 45-64), is a parent, and has a household income over $100,000. Because of this, we recommend for many of our clients in B2B industries or with a target market that falls into their demographic to not ignore Bing in their marketing efforts. Bing and Google’s algorithms are different, and data shows that Bing ranking factors in more of an emphasis on on-page elements rather than more complex analytics, and focuses more on keyword placement and density.

Yahoo

Yahoo is one of the oldest search engines, older than Google, which is still around and used by many. While the average person may have a negative opinion on Yahoo and think no one uses it anymore, it is the third most popular search engine after Google and Bing. Some may seem the fact that Yahoo was started in 1994 to mean it’s an outdated product, but for others, it forms a sense of trust, and loyal users have made it part of their web routine over the years and continue to search there. The Yahoo.com front page is still a very popular page for web surfing and getting news as well, leading to many people to continue using their search feature.

While Bing’s demographics skew older, Yahoo’s skew even older – it is the most popular search engine for users 65+. Yahoo also uses the same search algorithm as Bing, so if you are optimizing your website for an older audience, you can keep the same techniques in mind for both search engines.

DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo is a relatively new search engine, but a fast growing one. According to Search Engine Journal, while Google, Bing, and Yahoo are all seeing a decline in organic search traffic – DuckDuckGo has seen a 49% increase in quarter 2 of 2019. The reason? DuckDuckGo focuses on privacy, which with all the news surrounding our online privacy, has become very important to internet users. It never tracks online activity, personal information, or even the IP address of users. It also has a very simple, and clean interface and using infinite scrolling, making it more user-friendly.

DuckDuckGo’s uses its web crawler called DuckDuckBot and up to 400 other sources to compile their results, including crawling other search engines like Bing and Yahoo. Because of the lack of personal data available for marketers to use, it can be difficult to target users on this platform.

While we don’t have as sophisticated data on the typical user on the site like we do for other platforms, we can infer that the user is someone that cares about privacy, and probably keeps up with current tech news and trends to be aware of a newer, growing search engine. Although you can’t do things like retargeting or demographic targeting because of DuckDuckGo’s privacy settings, they do still allow search ads based on keywords. Their advertising network is nowhere near as extensive as Bing or Google, but that also makes it less expensive and less competitive.

Optimize Your Website for Search with A Professional Digital Agency

The process of optimizing your website for search, or advertising on search networks is something that’s constantly evolving as new products, platforms, and tech trends come up. At Atilus, we can help your website rank in search through technical audits, content, and Local SEO, as well as help you advertise online with search engine marketing. Whatever your business goals are, or what target market you are trying to reach – we can help develop a custom marketing plan to help your business grow. For more information call 239-362-1271 or contact us online today!