You have probably heard more than five hundred times that Google is the most popular search engine in the world.
Well, I won’t say it’s not true, in fact, it’s hard to believe the fact that Google acquires more than 70% of the traffic as compared to other search engines.
So, when it comes to search engine optimization, there is a great emphasis on just Google-first SEO while ignoring the impacts of other search engines in the world.
Marketers like you and I always seek some innovative methodologies so we can optimize websites for better results and high ranking in search results.
But let me tell you the truth here, following one popular search engine won’t create any big difference. It’s not even a good approach.
Surprised? Yeah, you should be!
Because you are least unaware of the fact that there are a lot of other search engines too that can highlight your brands as an authority in your industry.
Yes, I know some of these search engines do not spring to your mind immediately when I talk about Local SEO.
So, today I am going to unleash some important platforms other than the most popular search engine called Google.
However, it is the largest search engine, but remember, it’s not the only player in the game!
Why should you optimize your website for other search engines too?
There are a lot of compelling reasons to look beyond Google and consider other search engines too, because
Google market share is declining
Did you know Google’s search ad revenues have dropped to 7.2% in the US in 2020?
Its shares in the market are further expected to decline from 61% to 58%. In fact, in October 2019, Google’s market shares were dropped to 87.9%, and most surprisingly, during that time, the market shares of Bing immediately rose from 3.5% to 5.2%. However, on the other side Amazon has been showing great performance as compared to other search engines.
Your site may rank poorly after ignoring other search engines
Now just because you think Google is the most popular and dominant player in the industry which is hard to beat, so it doesn’t mean you don’t have to focus on other platforms- I mean search engines.
If you are purely focused on optimizing your website for Google’s algorithms, it means you are missing out on other incredible opportunities available in other equally reliable search engines.
Google may not reach your target audience using different platforms
With an exceptional rise in privacy concerns, the most audience who loved Google may stop using this search engine as other platforms respect user’s privacy in a more delightful way.
Let’s suppose if your target audience is already aware of the data tracking, and data harvesting solutions implicated by Google, they may consider using other search engines that are not involved in tracking user’s behavior and data.
So, the fact is, Google cannot reach that audience who is privacy conscious and relying on other search engines. Instead, it would only consider the audience who has the least knowledge about data tracking or harvesting.
Here are some other search engines that can make a big impact in 2021
When you talk about using other search engines, most audience feels that they won’t be able to get more relevant and valuable information according to their needs.
In fact, I also believed that assumption, but once when I searched for the latest Search Engine Optimization (SEO) trends. I got surprised to see the list of incredible results.
Let’s explore what other search engines have to offer for your business.
We all know that Bing is owned and operated by Microsoft Corporation. But do you know it is also the second-largest search engine after Google?
It is not the very first attempt by Microsoft, but it has also well-operated MSN search and Lives search that have huge benefits in the past.
As Statcounter analyzed, Bing held more than 2.32% share in the search engine market in 2019.
Bing is also the most powerful default search engine for the Edge browser and Internet Explorer. Due to this search engine, products launched by Microsoft or people running a Microsoft operating system would have Bing as their default search engine.
Though Bing has never shared the same market like Google, but there are multiple regions and demographics where Bing is the more popular search engine than Google. If you look at the stats, you will find out that it has a higher percentage of usage in many countries as compared to other search engines.
Bing also held a 4.14% market share in the UK, 4.36% in the Canadian search engine market as well as 6.11% US market share.
On the other side, Bing has comparatively less share in Asian or African search markets.
Now just like Google, Bing also has amazing search functionality like immediate answering, Maps, as well as detailed flight information.
If you have been an active directory user, you must have known about Yahoo’s directory. Right?
Now Yahoo’s search engine also started its journey from Yahoo’s directory. After great success, Yahoo started using other search engines too so it can make the results powerful.
Alongside combining results from Bing and Google, Yahoo also tends to use its own web crawler called “Slurp”. Its share in the search market is increased to 1.59% in 2019.
It was the most dominant and powerful player in the search market. However, popularity has little dropped over the past few years.
On top of that, Yahoo is also a small contributor to the traffic you gain organically and this is a considerable factor that should not be ignored.
As it becomes a part of the Bing search engine so you don’t need to follow any additional rules while optimizing for Yahoo.
DuckDuckGo is another effective and popular search engine that was introduced in 2008. However, it is not as popular as Google and Bing, but it still impacts your SEO in more than one way.
It smartly uses all the information which is gathered personally by its own bot called “DuckDuckBot”. It gathers details from different sources such as Yahoo, Wikipedia, and Bing.
DuckDuckGo has also announced in 2019 that more than one billion searches occur worldwide every month using this platform.
Now the best and my favorite part is, DuckDuckGo doesn’t track user’s data and personal information. This makes this search engine special and different from Google and Bing.
But due to this lacking of data tracking solution, the search engine doesn’t personalize the searches according to its search history. But the good element is, this doesn’t stop the search engine from offering localized search information.
I personally like one feature of the DuckDuckGo search engine. It offers “bangs!” which are called search shortcuts. They allow users to search for any website they want.
For example, when you enter “w! search engine optimization” in DuckDuckGo, you would straight land to Wikipedia’s page about search engine optimization.
Baidu is also one of the largest search engines that hold more than 67% of the search engine shares in China in 2019. Even it holds more than 80% of the share in mobile searches.
In many ways, optimizing content for Baidu is quite similar to the processes you follow in Google. However, you may experience some visible differences.
Baidu tends to use meta descriptions in order to rank your website, and also favor its properties in search engines. If you want to rank for this search engine, you must need a Chinese registered website for big impacts.
You need to design well-written content to get ranked in Baidu which should be written in the Chinese language. The search engine has its own platform known as “Baidu Feng Yun Bang”. This is the most reliable and compelling source of original, unique, and relevant content ideas.
Conclusion
After analyzing the market shares and considering the impacts of other search engines, it’s clear that Google is not the only search engine today that can help you rank higher or generate huge ROI.
In fact, most of the time, your target audience is not even using this search engine.
So, instead of focusing on just one search engine, it’s better to optimize for multiple search engines and follow the same patterns for each platform to earn more credibility everywhere.
If you want to go one step ahead, you can also take advantage of other search engines too like Amazon and YouTube.
That’s the reason, I think it’s quite essential to evaluate where your target audience is engaged, what benefits them more, and how you can earn their trust & credibility by showing your services everywhere. If you need help in discovering your site in all the search engines, you need to follow the rules carefully or hire a professional for better results.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section so we can discuss all the nuts and bolts for your successful ranking.
