Many SEO consultants act like Google is the only search engine in the world, but in fact Google only owns about 65% to 70% of the market. While that might seem like the lion’s share, it does leave considerable room for other search engines to have something of an influence on the market and on SEO services as well. Here’s our top five list of search engines that are increasingly influencing users and quite possibly paving the way to a more diverse searchable future.
Bing
Microsoft’s Bing has been trying to make a run against Google for years, and in some ways it’s succeeded. Bing’s video search feature is superior to anything Google currently has, and it also offers quicker and more comprehensive autofill suggestions.
DuckDuckGo
The principal attraction of DuckDuckGo is its privacy. The engine doesn’t store any search information, unlike most other competitors, yet it still delivers quality results.
Yelp
Though it serves only a niche sector, there’s no doubt that Yelp has become a powerful factor for finding and driving local businesses. The user-driven experience is also a compelling factor in the community-minded world wide web.
Dogpile
This site is something of a meta-search engine, compiling results from other major search engines and then arranging those results according to its own algorithm. Perhaps best of all, there are zero advertisements.
Flickr
Again, this niche database of images has radically rewired the way we find and share pictures. While Google image search is fast improving in many ways, Flickr still has it beat in terms of sheer content and accessibility.
Is it possible that we might someday see a future where Google isn’t a synonym for search? More and more companies are trying to combat the dominance Google has over the market, and more consumers are looking for alternatives, too.
The bulk of SEO strategies still focus on hitting Google’s SERPs; nevertheless, there remain other options out there that shouldn’t be overlooked. It’s fairly easy to target a number of search engines at once, as well, since many of the principles remain the same. No matter which search engine you — or your customers — prefer, quality SEO marketing is the best way to make sure your site gets seen by as many eyes as possible.
