26 Search Engines That Power the World
Table of Contents
Search engines impact every person in today’s time-poor world.
Regardless of your profession and personal interests, you can find quick solutions to your problems on the Internet.
You can use search engines to get all the information you want over the Web. Just think of the number of times you have “Googled” to look for important information this week alone.
Obviously, it’s convenient, too. Whether you want to buy a dress, book flight tickets, search for a new home, or check out a holiday destination, you simply key in your query. And you get all the information you want within seconds. Isn’t that so?
Hence, search engines play a huge role in people’s daily life. They certainly make our lives easier.
Let’s look at the top search engines that power the world, and more. While Google has a clear monopoly, there are many search engines other than Google that are powerful and may be used for various purposes.
Google needs no introduction.
Google is the product of two friends – Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The brand was launched on 4th September 1998 in California, United States. The first time Google overtook all other search engines was on 26th June 2000.
Since then, Google has not looked back. Google’s domination has been total. Currently, Google leads the other players in the search engine market by a huge margin worldwide. Google’s dominance is across devices – desktop, mobile and tablet.
According to Forbes, Google processes more than 8.5 billion searches each day. So the number of yearly searches on Google works out to more than 2.5 trillion.
Search Engines other than google
1. Bing
Bing was launched on 3rd June 2009 in San Diego, California, United States, by Microsoft. On 5th October 2020, the company officially rebranded Bing to Microsoft Bing.
Bing is possibly as effective as Google in search. Organically, however, Bing’s algorithms aren’t as advanced as Google’s.
It’s true that over the last few years, Bing has been making major moves in the AI space. But still, compared to Google’s algorithms, it’s easier for entrepreneurs to understand and optimise for Bing’s algorithms. Hence, you can exploit this gap in sophistication for driving higher business revenue.
According to Statista, Bing gets over 1.3 billion searches each month.
2. Yahoo!
Yahoo! was the first popular web search engine. And it was among the popular search engines for many years in the 1990s. Jerry Yang and David Filo founded Yahoo! in January 1994 in California, United States. The company launched the search engine function on 2nd March 1995.
From October 2019, Bing powers Yahoo! search. Firefox browsers, however, have Yahoo! as the default search engine. The main advantages of Yahoo! are it presents the searcher with thorough organic results and better shopping search elements than other search engines.
The undated search results are a huge put-off, though. Also, unclear labelling of ads makes it difficult to differentiate between ads and organic results.
In June 2023, Yahoo! ranks 4th in the world. It had about 3.29 billion monthly visitors, with 52.11% of traffic coming from the United States.
3. Baidu
Baidu, the equivalent of Google in China, was launched on 1st January 2000 in Beijing, China, with Silicon Valley funding. Since 30th March 2010, Google has been banned in mainland China. Therefore, Baidu is the first choice search engine for most Chinese.
If you are planning to launch your brand in China, then Baidu PPC is indispensable for expanding your business. But to rank on Baidu, you need a Mandarin website. English words won’t rank on this search engine at all. Also, Baidu gives priority to business websites hosted in China.
Baidu has a 61.75% search engine market share in China. According to China Internet Watch.com, the number of daily searches for education-related knowledge content on Baidu was over 350 million during mid-February to mid-March 2020. The total visits to Baidu per month are 4.99 billion.
4. YandeX
Yandex, launched in 1997 by a Russian-found business, has a huge market share in Russia (58.17%). This search engine also has a sizeable market share in Belarus (22.18%), Turkey (23.75%) and Kazakhstan (9.21%). Yandex has a small market share in Ukraine (2.96%), as well.
Yandex provides services like Yandex Music, Yandex Maps, Yandex Money, online translator and several other services.
This search engine is designed exclusively for the Russian language. Due to this, Yandex interprets the subtleties and meanings of Russian better than other search engines.
Many Russians prefer Yandex over Google because they don’t trust US companies. You can call it a hangover of the cold war era.
The total number of visits to Yandex.com per month is 610 million.
5. Naver
Naver, a popular South Korean search engine, was launched on 2nd June 1999 by Naver Corporation.
Naver also provides services like news web portal, children’s search engine, encyclopedia and email client. The primary reason for Naver’s success in South Korea is that it dishes out content and services that are in tune with the Korean culture.
Naver has a global market share of 0.23%. With 1.21 billion total monthly visits, 92.88% of traffic from Naver comes from the Republic of Korea.
6. Daum
Daum, another popular South Korean search engine, was launched in May 1997 by Daum Communications, a South Korean company.
Daum was the first major Korean web portal. Currently, Naver is the dominant player in the South Korean search engine market. But Daum is building strategic alliances to win the race.
Daum offers several internet services to web users, such as a free web-based e-mail, news portal, messaging service, forums and shopping. The rampant internet usage in South Korea is the reason for Daum’s popularity.
The total number of visits to Daum per month is 278 million.
7. Seznam
Seznam was launched in 1996 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The company works to make the internet a more robust Czech medium. The algorithms of Seznam are built on the Czech language.
The main reason for the popularity of Seznam is Czechs are creatures of habit. They have been familiar with this search engine for years and are reluctant to change.
Seznam is the perfect search engine for people who only speak Czech. Its maps are excellent. Seznam scores over Google in the area of information on public transport. Since Czechs favour public transport a lot, they simply love Seznam.
The total number of visits to Seznam.cz per month is 286.8 million.
8. DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo was founded by Gabriel Weinberg on 29th February 2008 in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, United States.
The main advantage of this search engine is it offers seamless privacy protection on the searcher’s browser for free. People who are wary of hidden online tracking prefer this search engine over Google. DuckDuckGo has simplified online privacy and made it accessible for all.
The total number of visits to DuckDuckGo per month is 826.6 million.
9. Swisscows
Swisscows, a project of Hulbee AG, a Swiss software company, was launched in July 2014 in Switzerland.
This search engine uses semantic data recognition to give searchers faster answers to queries. Also, Swisscows doesn’t store users’ data.
Nowadays, a majority of people are increasingly uncomfortable with being monitored. And they don’t like being at the mercy of big organisations like Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, etc. Hence, people favour the company’s mission to safeguard people from being monitored.
The total number of visits to Swisscows.com per month is 2.329 million.
10. Gibiru
Gibiru, a privacy-focused search engine, was launched in 2009. The company’s mission is to provide people with access to information beyond Big Tech’s censorship bubble.
Gibiru focuses on presenting users with untracked and uncensored results. The search engine also allows users to remain anonymous. Gibiru does not save search queries. Additionally, the search records of users get wiped out automatically after a few seconds. So with Gibiru, you can expect to get private and unbiased search results.
The total number of visits to Gibiru.com per month is 615.91K.
11. SearchEncrypt
SearchEncrypt, a privacy-focused search engine, makes privacy practical and keeps your personal data safe. This search engine was launched in April 2016 in Cyprus (European Union). Unlike most search engines that track your web activities, SearchEncrypt keeps your user-identifiable data confidential.
The 5 advantages of using SearchEncrypt include no tracking, SSL/HTTPS encryption, transparency, privacy by design and expiring browser history.
Your local browsing history will be erased automatically after 15 minutes of inactivity. The company strongly believes that searching the internet shouldn’t require handing over personal information.
The total number of visits to SearchEncrypt.com per month is 1.563 million.
12. OneSearch
OneSearch, another privacy-focused search engine, was launched on 14th January 2020 in New York, United States, by Verizon Media.
OneSearch enables you to streamline your research process. This search engine includes the Fordham Library Catalogue, the Institutional Repository, most of the databases and their Digital Collections. With OneSearch, you can find articles, charts, graphs, images, books and more.
The main advantage of OneSearch is it saves you time with your research. You can access all of Fordham Library resources from one location. You don’t need to search individual databases separately.
You can also see the most relevant results displayed at the top, whether they are scholarly articles, books, media or digital content.
The total number of visits to OneSearch.com per month is 582.6K.
13. Ekoru
Ekoru, another privacy-focused search engine, was launched on 14th January 2019 in Malaysia.
The company donates 60% of its monthly income to partner charities that tackle the ongoing threat of climate change. Ekoru is at present donating to the cause of cleaning our oceans. Every search raises funds for the company’s partners to clear garbage from the sea.
Ekoru’s data centres use renewable energy sources. Every search is eco-friendly as the company’s servers are powered by hydroelectricity. Ekoru encrypts all web pages, thus protecting your privacy.
The total number of visits to Ekoru.org per month is 26.52K.
14. You.com
You.com is an AI-based search engine. The main highlight of You.com is it offers a personalised search experience. Users can control their time, sources, and privacy.
This search engine was launched on November 9, 2021. The founder of You.com are Richard Socher – former Chief Scientist at Salesforce and Bryan McCann – former Lead Research Scientist in Natural Language Processing (NLP) at Salesforce.
Users can use You.com just by typing any queries, similar to any popular search engine. The search result will be summarised in paragraphs. It also shows the sources for any information retrieved.
15. Perplexity
Perpelixity is another AI-based search engine. It uses language models to deliver results for any queries typed by users.
Users will see summaries and citations as search results. Perplexity will also provide ‘Quick Search’ suggestions and related images.
With that kind of search results, it will allow users to obtain information quickly and easily. They don’t need to wade through irrelevant results or go through many pages.
16. Yep.com
Yep.com is a search engine that is designed to support content creators. But how? They offer private search experiences that compensate the makers of the content.
Yep.com use a 90/10 revenue share business model. The 90% of ad revenue will go directly to the content creators.
With this kind of revenue share model, Yep.com hopes to attract new businesses that are open to experimentation.
17. Ecosia
Ecosia, an environment-friendly search engine, was launched on 7th December 2009 in Berlin, Germany. The company uses a major portion of the revenues generated from search engine inquiries to plant trees. Typically, around 45 searches are needed for planting a tree.
The operations of this CO2-neutral search engine are transparent. Their monthly financial reports indicate where the income generated from their searches goes. The company’s servers run on 100% renewable energy.
Also, Ecosia doesn’t promote third-party trackers or sell user data to advertisers. In July 2020, Ecosia achieved a huge milestone. The company planted 100 million trees in just 10 years.
The total number of visits to Ecosia.org per month is 160.6 million.
18. YouTube
YouTube, an online video-sharing platform, was launched on 14th February 2005 in San Mateo, California, United States. Google acquired YouTube on 13th November 2006.
YouTube is the top search engine in terms of video-related search. It’s the number two search engine in the world, as its traffic is easily higher than Bing and Yahoo! combined.
This versatile search engine is available in more than 100 countries and 80 languages. Over 70 percent of views on YouTube come via mobile devices. Users can also upload videos on YouTube and stream them to other users.
The total number of visits to YouTube.com per month is 33.26 billion.
19. Pinterest
Pinterest is a popular image-based search engine, was launched on January 2010. This platform offers a unique image search experience. It allows visitors to browse a large library of visual content.
You can find photographs, creative artwork, recipes, DIY projects, fashion ideas, and more.
Pinterest does have a ‘Board’ feature. Users can save, collect, and organise their Pins there. It’s an excellent feature for gathering ideas, being inspired, and discovering new trends.
This platform is used by around 445 million individuals each month to find ideas and inspire their next buy.
20. Flickr
Flickr is another image-based search engine, was launched on February 10, 2004. It is one of the first platforms dedicated to displaying photos.
Flickr has evolved into a thriving community where users can discover and share a vast collection of captivating images.
Photographers and creatives use Flickr to showcase their talent and expertise. They can create visually stunning portfolios and sharing them with the global audience.
Flickr has about 112 million registered users and 60 million active users as of 2022. The active users are counted as those who come to Flickr at least once a month.
21. Amazon
A9, an independent web search company, was established in September 2003 in Palo Alto, California, United States. Amazon uses the A9 algorithm to determine how products are ranked. The search results returned are similar to the ones returned by Google.
A9 considers keywords before deciding the most relevant results to be displayed.
A9 focuses on helping searchers find the things they want. A9 has had its fair share of hits, and some misses, as well. The company understands that if they never fail, they’re not really innovating.
The total number of visits to Amazon.com per month is 2.31 billion. And the total number of visits to A9.com per month is 76.34K.
22. Alibaba
Alibaba Cloud search engine was launched in September 2009 in Hangzhou, Beijing, China.
Also known as Aliyun, this search engine is dedicated to the success of its customers. In China, Alibaba Cloud is the top cloud computing service provider. The company also provides reliable data processing capabilities.
Over the past 10 years, Alibaba has developed many search engines on its assortment of ecommerce platforms.
These search engines are the high point of much technological and commercial value generated for the company during the past decade. These search capabilities drive 1688.com, Alibaba’s biggest online wholesale marketplace in China.
The total number of visits to Alibaba.com per month is 96.45 million. And the total number of visits to 1688.com per month is 38.84 million.
23. Instagram
Instagram was launched on 6th October 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in San Francisco, California, United States.
Instagram isn’t the best image search engine. Bing is the top contender for that spot. Instagram, a social media platform, is a powerful marketing tool.
Instagram is really a set of SDKs (Software Development Kits), APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), code, tools, technology, plugins, content, and services that enable users, including app developers and website owners, to retrieve data from Facebook and other Facebook Products, develop functionality, or provide data to the platform.
The total number of visits to Instagram.com per month is 6.42 billion.
24. LinkedIn
LinkedIn, an employment-oriented online service, was launched on 5th May 2003 in California, United States. Microsoft acquired LinkedIn on 13th June 2016.
The three main search elements on the platform are LinkedIn People Search, LinkedIn Job Search and LinkedIn Answers Search.
You can find any professional and connect with them using LinkedIn People Search. You can find job offers and vacant posts and apply for them using LinkedIn Job Search. You can use LinkedIn Answers Search to access the great treasure of knowledge that’s been collected.
The total number of visits to LinkedIn.com per month is 1.68 billion.
25. SlideShare
SlideShare, an American hosting service, was launched on 4th October 2006. It’s owned by Scribd Inc, an American eBook and audiobook service.
SlideShare is the number one professional content-sharing community in the world. You can find, share as well as present presentations and infographics on this platform.
The search bar at the top of the page allows you to search for presentations and users. You can use keywords to search for the presentations or infographics on SlideShare. To search for a particular title, you’ll need to include quotation marks around the search terms, for example, “Slideshare128”.
The total number of visits to SlideShare.net per month is 63.19 million.
26. Wiki
Wiki was launched on 7th January 2008.
Wiki.com, a custom Google search engine, offers to search:
- General wikis
- Tech wikis
- Expert encyclopedias
- Wikipedia only.
The general wikis include Wikibooks.org, Wikilearks.org, Wikimedia.org, Wikiindex.org, Wikia.com, Worldwindcentral.com, etc.
The tech wikis include Wikidot.com, Wiki.ubuntu.org, Wiki.apache.org, W3.org, Microformats.org, JSPwiki.org and Wiki.debian.org.
The expert encyclopaedias indexed include LoveToKnow.com, Infoplease.com, Reference.com, TheCanadianEncyclopaedia.com, Refdesk.com and Britannica.com.
Wiki.com supports advanced search operators. Hence, in your search, you can exclude people’s wikis or encyclopaedias.
The total number of visits to Wikipedia.org per month is 4.50 billion. And the total number of visits to Wiki.com is 114.74K.
Summing up
Among this huge collection of search engines, Google is the indisputable leader in global web search.
Since the majority of people use Google as their main desktop and mobile search engine, it’s important to rank high on Google.
This is further accentuated because many other search engines are also dependent on Google to display their search results. So ranking high on Google can simply mean ranking high on other search engines, too.
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