5 Most Popular Search Engines in the World

If you were asked to immediately share the number of types you lookup for things, news or facts online, you probably would not have a count. Such is the massive power of search engines today that we use them for all our daily needs without even realizing how dependent we are on them. Although there are hundreds of search engines across the world, for enhanced business development and SEO marketing you must focus specifically on the top most popular search engines. We have compiled an interesting study on 6 out of them.

Google

There is hardly any need to contemplate who can grab the first position when it comes to the most popular search engines globally. Google can boast of 86% of the desktop market share when it comes to online content, with 85% mobile traffic in its court. Google was created as a research project by Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1996 but got rejected in 1999 by Excite when the duo offered to sell it for $ 750,000. Fast forward around two and a half decades and Google’s parent company Alphabet is today worth about $ 1.012 trillion and counting. The search engine continues to be the most popular choice of billions of users worldwide, triggering a chain reaction where both the cause and impact of its success lies in its massive potential traffic. However, this also leads to its most compelling shortcoming – escalating prices. Google PPC and paid advertisements are often the most competitive and expensive across the search engine spectrum. Also, businesses point out that Google’s format – with brief featured snippets and advertised results occupying both top and bottom spots in the page – is not working in their favour and reducing click-throughs. Despite all these complaints and demerits, Google continues to remain at the top of its game. Optimization Tips: Take professional help from an experienced SEO agency that can cater specifically to your SEO needs and also knows Google’s working well. 

Microsoft Bing

In 2009, Microsoft replaced MSN Search with Bing, which has since then grown into the second biggest competitor to Google globally. Bing also powers Yahoo, the third biggest search engine in the US. One interesting point to note is that Bing’s search pages look remarkably similar to Google’s, including the categories, background, link and URL colours as well as snippet format. The USP Bing comes with, however, is its special “Rewards” program that gifts you points for searching or shopping using their engine. You can later redeem these rewards the way you want – gift vouchers, donations to non-profits and more. In its effort to catch up with the global leader Google, Bing has been constantly updating itself with new features, especially when it comes to Microsoft Ads. Also, neither its algorithms are as complex as Google’s nor is the search engine exorbitantly priced. Optimization Tip: Utilize Microsoft Bing’s gap in sophistication to grasp its easy-to-understand algorithm and kick off your PPC campaign on the platform. The lower traffic can be compensated for by the lower CPC. However, refrain from simply copy-pasting your campaign from Google to Microsoft for effective results.  

Baidu

Founded in 2000, Baidu happens to be the number one search engine in China, where US giants like Google and Microsoft are not popularly used. The search engine has been expanding its core offerings very much on the same lines as Google and has recently been making huge investments into AI. Yet, the algorithms of Baidu are not at all complex like Google’s, offering an easy-to-setup PPC system in China. Now, Baidu offers access to only one market, which seems to be both their biggest downside and smartest upside. After all, the Chinese market is unique in terms of its language, visuals and traditions, because of which conventional giants cannot be expected to have the same impact regionally. The market, though singular, is huge. This is what has shaped Baidu into one of the most popular search engines going by user numbers.    Optimization Tip: Read ‘An Idiot’s Guide to SEO’ for understanding finer nuances of search engine optimization across platforms.

Yandex

One of the most popular search engines in the world had not even started as one initially. Yandex was started as a project by two Russian developers to classify patents under a company called Arkadia in 1990. The name itself was adopted 3 years later, an acronym for “Yet Another Indexer”. Yandex went public only in 2011 on the New York Stock Exchange with a massive IPO of $ 1.3 billion, making it the second-largest, only after Google. Currently powering about 42.35% of all internet searches in Russia, Yandex boasts of the dual benefits of easy-to-understand algorithms and less competition. However, the problem with Yandex is that it is not very accommodative for outsiders. The weightage on geolocation, favouring Russia, is high. However, the platform is much less expensive compared to Google, Facebook or Microsoft Bing, and is much more flexible. Optimization Tip: The search engine is great for PPC if you are from Russia. For outsiders, the short-term outlook seems a little trickier compared to other platforms like Google and Microsoft Bing.  

Ask.com

It is the original and unique algorithm of Ask.com that is the major reason behind its massive fame – it favours expertise over popularity when it comes to ranking content. This makes the top-ranking content on the portal informative and resourceful, and thus more meaningful to people who use it. Over time, Ask.com has included sponsored search results from Google along with some unique features like “smart answers” that incorporate natural language responses to user queries.

Final Words

The connotation of our world having been reduced to a global village could not have been more appropriate than in 2021. We have practically started living online. Entertainment, education, work, grocery shopping, doctor appointments, travel bookings, friendships, romance and fitness – everything seems to have found a perfect fit in the digital world.