Should You Be Spreading out Your SEO? A Look at Google Site Search Alternatives (The Big Ones and the Niche)

When most people think of SEO, they think Google. And to be honest, that’s fair.

Google gets the lion’s share of all search traffic, bringing in 63% of all search traffic. What’s more, looking at the data shows that Google’s market has shown steady growth for well over a decade.

But Google isn’t the only search engine in town. In fact, there are tons of other, smaller search engines that you could utilize to bring in more traffic.

Curious to learn more?

Here’s what you need to know about SEO and Google site search alternatives.

Bing

People like to make fun of Bing as being the redheaded stepchild of the search engine world, but Microsoft’s search site does rather well for itself.

In fact, the site’s image and video functionality may be better than Google’s.

If you’re looking for a search engine with a solid market share and most of the accessibility of Google, Bing is your go-to.

Bing allows search engine marketing through its Bing Ads initiative, as well as traditional SEO strategies. Users can control their budget and performance without having to pay a minimum fee.

Yahoo!

For those looking for even less competition, Yahoo! is a great option.

Though its web searching tools aren’t as powerful as its brethren, Yahoo! still attracts quite a few visitors thanks to its popular mail client.

Yahoo! uses many of the same SEO strategies, including keyword choice, placing importance on alt tags, and metadata.

DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo champions itself as the search engine of the people. Its main selling point is that it promises never to collect, store, and sell user data to advertisers.

As a result, it, like Google, has shown steady growth over the last several years.

And as the battle for customer data rages on, expect DuckDuckGo to pick up even more visitors.

Baidu

For those targeting an international market, Baidu is a must.

This massive search engine in China’s equivalent to Google, bringing in 8 billion unique search results each month.

And it’s not just for an international market anymore, either. As of a few years ago, Baidu is now available in English, as well.

Though it hasn’t caught on yet in North America, its market value in China alone makes it an easy recommendation.

Ask

If you were around in the late 1990s, chances are you remember toying around with the Internet’s favorite butler, Jeeves, at AskJeeves.

While Jeeves is seemingly gone for good, in his place is a rebranded version of the search engine titled Ask.

It’s smaller, so niche markets should jump on the opportunity to market on Ask.

AOL Search

Like Yahoo! AOL’s search popularity comes primarily from its mail client.

Yet there’s one feature AOL has that its competitors don’t: A partnership with other search engines.

Users who use AOL Search’s ad function can also choose to distribute their ads through Bing, Yahoo, and more.

Check Out These Google Site Search Alternatives

If you’re looking to improve your SEO strategy, consider foregoing Google and choosing one of these Google site search alternatives.

Though they may not have the name recognition, each engine listed has a wide enough audience that they’re worth checking out.

Whichever search engine you choose, make sure your site is ready. Check out our guide on SEO-friendly web designs for more info.