The Top 5 Alternative Search Engines to Google
With a market share of over 80% on a global scale, Google seems to be the undisputed and undefeated champion of search engines. It has at least 30 billion queries per month, and it’s powered by one of the most successful companies in history.
Despite Google’s dominance of the search engine industry, it still has some competitors with unique benefits you may not find when you use Google. We’ve put together a list of some alternative search engines to check out, and how they differ from Google.
DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo was launched in 2008 to provide a more private alternative to Google. It doesn’t store any personal information or search history, nor does it track the user in any way. Using DuckDuckGo means you’ll have no targeted ads as a part of your searching experience.
Another unique feature is !bangs, which takes the user straight to a search on a certain website. For example, a search for “!amazon books” goes to a search for books on Amazon.com.
Bing
Microsoft’s search engine has one main appealing feature: Microsoft Rewards. This unique program gives you points when you search that you can redeem for gift cards at outlets like Amazon or Starbucks.
Bing’s user experience for photo and video viewing also stands out from Google. When searching for an image, you can filter the images you see, like photos with faces or specific layouts. Videos on the site appear as a grid of thumbnails that can be directly viewed from Bing.
Need advanced searching features? Bing also offers filters like Feed (for RSS) and Contains (for searching for a specific file type) that are beneficial for many digital marketers.
Yahoo! Search
Yahoo! is not only a search engine, but also a news aggregator, a horoscope, games center, travel directory and much more. Compared to Google, it provides a more robust experience as users get to discover and explore beyond simple search results.
While Google only displays a pretty simple search interface, Yahoo! presents a multitude of eye-catching links. The company is the preferred homepage for the internet for many users due to its content aggregation and ease of use.
Baidu
Baidu is often referred to as “China’s Google.” It is the second largest search engine on a global scale, and it’s ranked 4th in Alexa Internet rankings. The market share reveals that it is by far the major player in China. At the moment it is not available in English, but it is a viable alternative for Mandarin-speaking Internet users.
Whether you stick with what you know or decide to try out one of these alternative search engines to Google, you’ll find varied benefits that can improve your search experience. Have more questions about search engines, or how your company can increase your rankings in any search engine? Reach out to the SEO team here at Volume Nine today!
