Putting all your eggs in one basket is rarely a winning strategy. Financial investors live by this rule, but it also applies to search engine optimization (SEO). Focusing on a single promotional channel, no matter how effective, can mean missing out on untapped markets.
While Google dominates the world’s search engine market, many regions have their own popular search engines that cater specifically to local audiences. For businesses expanding into the global marketplace, diversifying SEO strategies by considering international search engines and Google alternatives is key to connecting with new customers.
Ready to go beyond Google Search? Here’s a list of foreign search engines and other alternatives to include in your international SEO and localization strategy.
Top Google alternatives for your SEO strategy
There’s no question that ranking well in Google Search is critical to any successful SEO campaign. The platform leads the search engine market across countries and devices, processing over 8.5 billion searches and crawling an astonishing 2.5 exabytes of data daily (at the time of writing).
| Desktop | Tablet | Mobile | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80% | 90% | 94% | 90% |
The search engine’s popularity stems partly from its ability to quickly deliver accurate results to users’ queries. Initially, Google focused on relationships between websites. The algorithm determined search engine rankings based on the number of referring links to a specific webpage or site—the more links, the higher a page’s ranking on the search engine result page (SERP).
Over time, Google refined its search algorithm to consider multiple factors. Today, with the addition of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, it continues to deliver the most reliable and relevant results.
Google alternative search engine list
Despite having significantly smaller audiences, optimizing SEO and paid ad campaigns for alternatives to Google Search can still yield significant returns.
Here are 12 top search engine alternatives to consider (all statistics current at the time of writing):
1. Microsoft Bing
Bing, Microsoft’s answer to Google, holds 4% of the global market share. Its integration with Windows makes it the default search engine for many PC users, contributing to its popularity.
Bing has evolved from previous iterations like MSN Search and Live Search. It now features Bing Chat, a generative AI tool that helps users refine search queries for more accurate results.
2. Yahoo
As one of the internet’s original search engines, Yahoo ranks third in North America with 2.4% of the market and fourth globally with 1.35%. Since 2019, it’s been the default search engine for Firefox in the United States.
Yahoo now relies on Microsoft Bing’s index and algorithms to handle queries.
3. DuckDuckGo
With over 3 billion monthly queries, DuckDuckGo ranks sixth globally (0.65%) and fourth in North America (1.73%). Its clean interface and privacy-first approach attract users, as the platform blocks trackers and keeps search histories private.
However, DuckDuckGo’s results rely on third-party sources like Yelp, Microsoft Bing, and Yahoo.
4. Ask.com
Ask.com, formerly Ask Jeeves, generates results from user-submitted questions and answers. Though its international presence is limited, Ask.com still draws 27.2 million visitors monthly.
5. AOL
The grandfather of internet service providers, AOL (formerly America Online) still remains in the top 10 search engines in the U.S., with 202 million monthly visits that secure 0.09% of the world’s search engine market share. In 2021, a private equity firm purchased AOL and merged it with Yahoo! Inc., but the ad-heavy SERPs have contributed to its decline in popularity in recent years.
6. Internet Archive
The Internet Archive, a nonprofit digital library, offers access to a wide range of digitized materials, including websites, software, and media. Its WayBackMachine feature allows users to view historical versions of websites, making it a valuable tool for understanding web evolution.
Though not a traditional search engine, the Internet Archive sees 148 million visits monthly.
International (non-U.S.) search engine list
For organizations expanding abroad, targeting local search traffic is key to attracting new customers who might not be using Google, Yahoo, or Bing. Successful global outreach requires optimizing SEO content and ad campaigns for search engines in other countries, too.
1. Yandex
Yandex dominates Russia’s search market, securing third place globally with a 2.3% market share and 3.1% in Europe. In Russia itself, Yandex controls 63% of the market.
Alongside Russia, Yandex operates in Kazakhstan, Belarus, Turkey, and other countries with large Russian-speaking populations. However, several countries have banned the platform, including Ukraine, Finland, Norway, and Estonia.
2. Baidu
Ranked fifth globally with a 0.81% market share, Baidu is China’s leading search engine, handling 70% of domestic search queries. While accessible worldwide, Baidu is only available in Simplified Chinese.
Beyond search, Baidu’s ecosystem includes popular products like Baidu Maps and Baidu Baike, China's equivalent to Wikipedia, solidifying its reputation as "the Google of China."
3. Ecosia
Ecosia is the search engine for eco-conscious users. Founded in Germany, the site uses ad revenue to fund international tree-planting efforts, with over 200 million trees planted to date.
Ecosia partners with Microsoft Bing to generate search results and holds approximately 0.09% of the global search engine market share and 0.34% in Europe.
4. Naver
In South Korea, Naver challenges Google with a 42.6% market share compared to Google’s 51%. Launched in 1999 as the country’s first web portal with a proprietary search engine, Naver has since expanded to include music, video search, and a mobile app.
5. Qwant
France-based Quant focuses on user privacy, promising not to track searches or sell user data.
In 2019, Qwant partnered with Microsoft Bing to improve the search experience for French-speaking populations domestically and abroad. Since then, the company has integrated its search engine with AI to improve the relevance and precision of its results.
Qwant is the fourth largest player in the European search engine market, attracting 7% of traffic in 2023.
6. Seznam
Serving the Czech Republic, Seznam controls 13.2% of the domestic market with algorithms designed specifically for the Czech language. Along with its search engine, Seznam offers services like email, maps, and streaming, standing as the only full-text search engine using the Roman alphabet in its region.
Other search engines to watch for
The search engine landscape continues to shift as new players enter the market, challenging established giants like Google and Microsoft Bing. Many emerging alternatives focus on privacy to set themselves apart, hoping to compete more directly with the top names in the industry:
- Swisscows: Switzerland-based Swisscows is a privacy-focused search engine that doesn't store IP addresses, personal information, or search queries. With its emphasis on family-friendly content, Swisscows uses semantics and intelligent algorithms to deliver safe search results.
- Brave Search: Brave Search offers a data-protective alternative, relying on its own index without third-party technology. This independence allows Brave to deliver what it claims are unbiased search results. Currently, Brave Search is available in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, and Germany.
- Startpage: Startpage is a Dutch search engine that allows users to access Google results through an encrypted connection, safeguarding their privacy. While supporting targeted ads and news, Startpage bases its search query results solely on keywords, not browsing history.
Unlock global expansion with Smartling
Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft Bing dominate the global search engine market, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore alternatives like DuckDuckGo or regional options such as Baidu and Naver. The best search engine for your localized SEO and ad campaigns is the one your audience uses, wherever in the world they may be.
For deeper insights into translation and localization, download Smartling's “Ultimate Guide to Translating Your Marketing Materials.” The free eBook explains how and why to translate specific marketing content types, equipping you with everything you need to connect your brand with new customer bases across search engines and various advertising platforms around the globe.
