Putting all your eggs in one basket is rarely a winning strategy. Financial investors follow 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 global search engine market , many regions have their own popular search engines that cater specifically to local audiences. For businesses expanding into the global market , diversifying SEO strategies by considering international search engines and Google alternatives is key to connecting with new customers.
Ready to move beyond Google Search? Here’s a list of foreign search engines and other alternatives to include in your international SEO and localization strategy.
The Best Google Alternatives for Your SEO Strategy
There’s no doubt that ranking well on Google Search is crucial to any successful SEO campaign. The platform leads the search engine market across all countries and devices, processing over 8.5 billion searches and tracking a whopping 2.5 exabytes of data daily (at the time of writing).
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The search engine’s popularity stems in part from its ability to quickly provide accurate results to users’ queries. Initially, Google focused on relationships between websites. The algorithm determined search engine rankings based on the number of links referring to a particular page or website—the more links, the higher the page’s ranking on the search engine results page (SERP).
Over time, Google has refined its search algorithm to consider a variety of factors. Today, with the addition of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, it continues to provide the most reliable and relevant results.
List of Google Alternative Search Engines
Despite having a significantly smaller audience, optimizing SEO and paid advertising campaigns for Google Search alternatives can still yield significant returns.
Here are the top 12 search engine alternatives to consider (all stats 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. Now, it introduces Bing Chat, a generative AI tool that helps users refine search queries to get more accurate results.
2. Yahoo
As one of the original Internet search engines, Yahoo ranks third in North America with 2.4% market share and fourth globally with 1.35%. Since 2019, it has 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 searches , 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 such as Yelp, Microsoft Bing, and Yahoo.
4. Ask.com
Ask.com, formerly Ask Jeeves, generates results from questions and answers submitted by users. Although its international presence is limited, Ask.com still attracts 27.2 million visitors per month.
5. AOL
The granddaddy of internet service providers, AOL (formerly America Online) still remains among the top 10 search engines in the U.S., with 202 million monthly visits that account for 0.09% of the global search engine market share . In 2021, a private equity firm bought AOL and merged it with Yahoo! Inc., but ad-heavy SERPs have contributed to its decline in popularity in recent years.
6. Internet Archive
The Internet Archive , a nonprofit digital library, provides access to a wide variety 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 the evolution of the web.
Although it is not a traditional search engine, the Internet Archive receives 148 million monthly visits .
List of international search engines (non-US)
For organizations expanding overseas, targeting local search traffic is critical to attracting new customers who may not be using Google, Yahoo, or Bing. Successful global reach also requires optimizing SEO content and advertising campaigns for search engines in other countries.
1. Yandex
Yandex dominates the Russian search market, securing third place globally with a market share of 2.3% and 3.1% in Europe. In Russia itself, Yandex controls 63% of the market .
Along with 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 market share of 0.81%, Baidu is China’s top search engine, handling 70% of domestic search queries . Although accessible worldwide, Baidu is only available in Simplified Chinese.
In addition to search, Baidu’s ecosystem includes popular products like Baidu Maps and Baidu Baike, the Chinese equivalent of 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 advertising 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 at home and abroad. The company has since integrated its search engine with AI to improve the relevance and accuracy 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 such as email, maps, and streaming, and is the only full-text search engine using the Roman alphabet in its region.
Other search engines to watch out for
The search engine landscape continues to change as new players enter the market, challenging established giants like Google and Microsoft Bing. Many emerging alternatives are focusing on privacy to differentiate themselves, hoping to compete more directly with the industry’s big names:
Swisscows: Swisscows , headquartered in Switzerland, is a privacy-focused search engine that does not store IP addresses, personal information, or search queries. With an emphasis on family-friendly content, Swisscows uses semantics and intelligent algorithms to provide safe search results.
Brave Search: Brave Search offers a data-protected alternative by relying on its own index without third-party technology. This independence allows Brave to provide what it claims are unbiased search results. Brave Search is currently available in the US, Canada, the UK, France, and Germany.
Startpage: Startpage is a Dutch search engine that allows users to access Google results through an encrypted connection, protecting their privacy. While it supports targeted ads and news, Startpage bases its search 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 like Baidu and Naver. The best search engine for your localized advertising and SEO campaigns is the one your audience uses, no matter where they are in the world.
For more in-depth information on translation and localization, download Smartling’s “The Ultimate Guide to Translating Your Marketing Materials .” The free eBook explains how and why to translate specific types of marketing content, giving you everything you need to connect your brand with new customer bases on search engines and various advertising platforms around the world.