Search engines are now a staple in people’s everyday lives – with most internet users making 3 to 4 searches every day! While Google is an automatic go-to for many people when they think of search engines, there are many more search engines that exist that can also provide amazing results when you’re looking something up online.
In this article, we’ll discuss the world’s top search engines, how they compare and search engines can help you find what you’re looking for!
Here’s what we’ll cover in this article:
What is a Search Engine and How do Search Engines Work?
Search engines are tools used by internet users to help answer questions and discover what they are looking for based on keywords.
A search engine delivers results to the users, based on their search, by employing three functions – crawling the internet and scouring through code and content, storing and organizing what it finds and then ranking this stored content based on how relevant it is to the user’s search specifications.
The World’s Top 8 Search Engines
1. Google
The most popular and well-known search engine in the world, Google has obtained more than 92% of the search engine market share worldwide! In fact, Google receives more than 3.5 billion searches per day!
Although many may think that Google is the biggest search engine, YouTube is actually technically larger, surpassing Google in 2015.
Google, developed in 1996 as a research project, is very progressive in their approach to search, with new algorithm updates constantly being released in order to improve search results for users. The search engine itself provides image, video, maps, text search and more. In addition to helping their own users with their search queries, Google also provides search results for other engines like Ask.com.
Search engine trends can provide valuable insight for SEO and content creation. Check out 10 of the Top Google Searches and Trends of 2019 for some topical inspiration!
2. Bing
Bing, launched in 2009, is one of the top popular search engines and receives more than 963 million visits per month. Owned by Microsoft, Bing has 2.44% of the world’s search engine market share. Much like Google, Bing provides image, video, map, news and text searching capabilities. Bing also provides search results for other engines, including AOL and Yahoo!
3. Yahoo
Founded in 1994, Yahoo, a close competitor to Bing, has 1.62% of search engines market share. Yahoo was originally called “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web”, named after its founders. Yahoo offers web, image and video search, as well as Yahoo Answers, a user generated Q&A site where people can ask real questions and get answers from others. Although Yahoo competes with Bing, its search results are actually provided by Bing!
4. Baidu
Developed in 2000, Baidu is the most popular search engine in China, with over 3.3. billion searches per day. In China, Baidu has 68.66% of the search engine market share, compared to Google’s market share of only 1.56% and Bing’s 1.55%. Baidu’s world search engine market share, however, is only1.49%. Much like the popular US engines, Baidu provides web, maps and image search and also offers audio file search, cloud storage and more.
5. YANDEX RU
Yandex.ru, developed in 1997, was originally built as part of a project to help categorize patents. It is one of the most popular search engines in Russia with 45.27% of the market share in Russia (Google is number one with 51.68%). Yandex stands for Yet Another iNDEXer”. It offers services like maps, music, a translator, as well as other options. While Yandex delivers over half of all searches in Russia, it’s worldwide search engine market share is only 0.54%.
6. Sogou
Sogou (searching dog, in English), was launched in 2004. It is the third largest search engine in China with 0.43% of the search engine market share worldwide. Sogou has begun to focus on artificial intelligence, natural language processing and question answering, in an attempt to revolutionize search and search engine capabilities.
7. Ask.com
Originally known as Ask Jeeves, Ask.com was developed in 1996. The search engine has approximately 0.72% of the worldwide market share. Ask’s original concept was based on a Q&A model where answers to questions relied on community participation and user participation. This concept, however, was not able to live up to other models, like that offered by Google and Bing. Since their original inception, Ask has changed their direction, with search results on this engine now powered by Google.
8. DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo is a great option for users concerned with online privacy. Founded in 2008, this search engine is committed to providing the highest level of privacy. They don’t harvest and store personal info or use targeted advertising, meaning you can rest easy that you are protected. DuckDuckGo has captured approximately 0.39% of the global search engine market and provides more than 27.4 million searches daily.
Key Takeaways on Search Engines
Looking to expand your search horizons? There are many options available beyond Google when it comes to search engines. So, if you’re looking for another option, look no further! Take a stab with one of these top 8 search engines from around the globe.
Top search engines worldwide:
- Bing
- Yahoo
- Baidu
- YANDEX RU
- Sogou
- Ask.com
- DuckDuckGo
