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4 of the Most Popular Search Engines to Grow Your Organic Reach

4 of the Most Popular Search Engines to Grow Your Organic Reach 7
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Google might come out on top as one of the most popular search engines in the world. But did you know that there is are tons of opportunities beyond it?

If there is one marketing technique that all digital marketers swear by, it is none other than Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). An article by Ahrefs highlighted that as many as 53.3% of organic traffic comes directly from search engines.

What’s even more intriguing about SEO is that you are more likely to land quality leads with on-page SEO than other ‘free’ means like cold-calling or cold-emailing as users have intent and are looking for answers online.

While it is true that Google has the lion share of the global search market, various other search engines have had their fair share in the spotlight this year.

Most Popular Search Engines You Need to Jump on Now

What are the most popular search engines?

Everyone (or at least the bulk of businesses) already have Google figured out. If you want to get more organic traffic, you might want to consider looking beyond Google.

To help you get started, we’ve listed 4 of the most popular search engines for 2020 and what’s so great about them. But just like how every rose has its thorns, we’ll underpin some of the loopholes that might explain why Google still triumphs above the rest.

Take a look at our picks for the most popular search engines down below.

1. Baidu

Baidu most popular search engines
Source: Pe3k / Shutterstock.com

This year marks Baidu’s 20th year as China’s leading search engine. Today, they control a whopping 76.05 percent of the Chinese market share.

While it targets primarily Mainland Chinese, Baidu is steadily gaining ground in multiple locations beyond China. In fact, last year, they even launched AI Cloud services in Singapore.

If you want to expand into Baidu, you could do use Baidu SEO as well as Baidu PPC to get more paid traffic to your website as well.

A Note about Baidu SEO

Keep in mind – your website content and keywords must have Chinese characters in order to rank for Chinese search queries. Put simply, the bulk of users are from Mainland China and it seems like the algorithm seems to favour content in Chinese characters over English.

Take note about Baidu’s Great Firewall as well. This firewall blocks access to various foreign websites to curb cross-border internet traffic.

All in all, Baidu is an excellent alternative to Google if you are trying to advertise to Mainland Chinese and other Chinese-speaking users.

2. Bing

most popular search engines - bing
Source: chrisdorney / Shutterstock.com

Bing was only launched in 2009, but it is rapidly gaining ground in the search engine market. There are a few highlights that make Bing a worthy contender against the most popular search engines worldwide.

Firstly, Bing’s video search is known to be significantly better than Google as users need not leave Bing but can simply click on the large thumbnails to enjoy a video or two.

Bing also gives 8 auto-complete options while Google only gives 4. You could make use of those options to align your content based on those search queries.

Is Bing better than Google?

The short answer is ‘no.’ Here’s why:

It seems like Bing doesn’t do too good a job of getting results for long and complex key phrases. Furthermore, you can play around with custom date ranges on Google, but it seems like this feature isn’t on Bing just yet.

3. Amazon

Amazon search engine
Source: Worawee Meepian / Shutterstock.com

A hidden gem for e-commerce sites, Amazon SEO is an alternative to Google Shopping that you could consider venturing into. To date, it is recognised as the world’s largest eCommerce platform.

Even if you aren’t on the internet a lot, the name Amazon shouldn’t be new to you. It was founded in 1994 and has been ramping up its eCommerce efforts to cope with changing consumer behaviours.

If you want to drive more eCommerce sales, you could consider using Amazon SEO to increase your presence for related search queries.

How does Amazon SEO compare to Google?

Like Bing, it seems A9, the Amazon algorithm, favours short-tail keywords over long-tail keyphrases. Furthermore, WordStream also highlighted that off-page SEO on Amazon doesn’t make much of a difference to your ranking and presence. In other words, your external presence is not really taken into consideration by A9.

4. Yahoo

most popular search engines - yahoo
Source: dennizn / Shutterstock.com

Even after 26 years, Yahoo still finds itself amongst one of the most popular search engines. As of today, they own 12.7% of the US search market and 1.64% of the global market share.

Since it isn’t as widely-used as Google, you can expect Yahoo to be significantly less competitive. Yahoo also hasn’t rolled out too many algorithm updates, so you probably don’t need to constantly stay on your toes to respond to the latest update.

Do I Need to Start Using Yahoo SEO?

Well, if you are tired of your competitors outranking you, you can easily explore Yahoo SEO and give it a try. Do note, however, that Google still has the largest pool of users in the world.

One thing that sets Yahoo apart from Google is the need for exact keywords. You would probably need to include simple, short and straightforward keywords to increase your chances of ranking well on Yahoo.

“Do I Need to Explore the World Beyond Google?”

search engines

Well, it’s not a black and white issue and there are a few considerations you should make before thinking of expanding your SEO campaigns beyond Google.

Am the Problem?

Not getting traffic?

Don’t be too quick to blame the search engines. Take a look at your own website and perform an SEO audit to uncover areas of improvement.

Can You Afford the Time?

Let’s face it. SEO takes a lot of work. It is like a marathon that requires consistent monitoring and updating. Do you have the time and tenacity to master SEO on a new search engine?

Google Still Reigns

At the end of the day, Google still retains the bulk of the global market share. While several other search engines have been rapidly gaining ground, it looks like Google is here to stay as the top dog at least for the next couple of years.

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