For most users, it’s hard to imagine using any search engine other than Google Chrome. We call out to Siri and Alexa to Google information for us. In fact, we even use the word Google as a verb. It just seems to be second nature to depend on Google now. However, as a marketer, you really should be considering other options. Despite Google’s dominance, changes are coming. Here are just a few reasons you should be going beyond Google for SEO.
A Rise in Alternatives
Don’t get us wrong. Google holds a staggering 92% of the market share. However, there are other search engines that deserve a nod as people’s perspectives, and the location they live in, are changing the way they search.
For example, Bing only has 2.61% of the market and also powers Yahoo!. However, they do have some selling points people like including a rewards program that can be used towards some online purchases such as movies and apps.
All told there are 11 SEO alternatives each with its own target audience and matching features.
International Market
Baidu is an excellent example of search engines capturing their share of the international market. They account for around 77% of the searches in China. Although this is only 1.7% of the world market share, they still are cornering a huge majority of the Chinese market.
In Russia, it’s all about Yandex. Over half of the Russian population uses this search engine which is also popular in other countries such as the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Belarus. It is available in English and Cyrillic and incorporates social logins. It also provides a storage service, Yandex Disk, that incorporates their search bar for file searches.
Eco-Friendly Market
Going green is becoming prominent across all industries, including search engines.vAlthough it has come under fire for a number of issues, Ecosia, which is powered by Bing, claims it uses part of its revenue to plant trees. They also claim they help combat the dangerous levels of Co2 produced by Google.
Unfortunately, we use the term “claim,” because many have accused Ecosia of not using their funds to plant trees. Adding insult to injury there are tons of blog posts and spyware services claiming that Ecosia also uses spyware to hijack browsers.
Privacy Concerns
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you are more than aware of the privacy concerns that are becoming more meaningful across many channels from social media to e-commerce and government agencies to professionals. DuckDuckGo might be sitting at a mere .37% of the world’s searches, but they offer something people want: Privacy.
They do not store or collect personal information, nor do they share it with anyone. They do have Bing ads but do not use ad targeting. More and more people will catch on that they can avoid annoying targeted ads with DuckDuckGo.
Point and case, they have hit beyond the 30 million daily searches mark which reflects an increase of almost 50% from 2017 searches. They are gaining momentum with users who want their privacy protected and their browsing habits kept to themselves.
Also, of note, if privacy were not an issue it would be highly odd for Google to have launched its pro-privacy search engine, StartPage. Like DuckDuckGo, they do not track and collect your information, nor do they feature targeted ads. They do deliver Google ads and also allow you to search with a Proxy for anonymity. They also have very little of the market share.
Niche Search Engines
Another growing trend is niche search engines that cater to a certain crowd or provide an enhanced experience with a specific search in mind. CC Search, for example, searches copyright-free content, an excellent tool for people who post a lot to social media and blogs and want access to media from images to music.
Internet Archive focuses on collections of educational texts, videos, books, music, etc. while Wiki.com specifically searches community-led wiki sites.
Boardreader is a community and forum based focused on everyday users and message boards as a resource. One more engine of note is LinkedIn’s Slideshare which looks for presentations, PDFs and eBooks and downloads them directly from the platform.
Strange Bedfellows
Another sign Google is planning for the future is that Google Chrome has added DuckDuckGo to its list of default browsers. Traditionally Google has aligned itself with search engines that have the most market share. Perhaps they see the future and it does not include search engines and platforms that endorse the use of private info.
Of course, DuckDuckGo is now offered in more than 60 markets, but it is still not a major contender from a percentage standpoint. The defaults expand internationally including Qwant, a pro-privacy search engine in France.
Competition Policies
With governments starting to question competition policies in earnest, this is helping to drive the demand for pro-privacy search engines. All eyes are on companies like Google and Facebook to see how they will react when the government changes the rules so smaller tech companies are in a better position to compete.
An example of Google’s monopolizing strategy is that they held the rights for the domain Duck.com which is coincidentally very similar to DuckDuckGo. Up until recently, that domain pointed to Google, but they have finally released their rights so it is available for DuckDuckGo. This might tie into their decision to add DuckDuckGo to their defaults. You just never know.
The Uprise of the Pro-Privacy Movement
It is the users that are driving the pro-privacy movement, with governments lagging embarrassingly behind. Although they are stepping up, and more pro-privacy browsers are arriving, Google might finally be seeing that the need for change is now.
They will argue that there have always been ways for users to protect their privacy. However, these means are not intuitive and take some know-how and effort. A good example is Adblockers. These do block ads but can also cause issues for users. If you are using a website with popup windows for certain actions such as filling out a form to request information or to subscribe to a newsletter these windows will be blocked as well.
Change is a natural occurrence in marketing and the trends that drive consumers. Although Google remains the giant of the day, the preferences of consumers are changing which means SEO tactics might soon follow.
