Have you ever thought about using a search engine other than Google? When you think about search engines, Google is probably the first thing that comes to mind.
That’s because it dominates the search engine market by a long margin. Over 90% of the searches take place on Google.
But what if other search engines are more secure and provide different benefits than Google?
In this article, we’ll show you alternative search engines that are better than Google. Let’s dive straight in…
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1. Bing
Bing is a search engine by Microsoft and is second in terms of market share after Google. It was launched in 2009, and its origin traces back to earlier search engines offered by Microsoft, such as MSN Search and Live Search.
You can perform the same kind of searches on Bing as you would do on Google. For instance, you can use the search engine to perform keyword research, find videos, images, maps, products, and more.
Bing offers a webmaster tool, which comes in handy if you want to submit a website to search engines for indexing.
What makes Bing a better alternative search engine?
There are a few features that make Bing standout. First, it provides better video searches, as you get larger thumbnails, and if you hover over the video, you can preview the video with sound.
Second, Bing offers reward points for users who use the search engine. You can redeem the points you’ve earned to win exciting prizes like Microsoft Xbox One X or a Surface Laptop.
2. Yahoo
Yahoo is another alternative search engine you can use and is third in terms of market share, behind Google and Bing. Created by David Filo and Jerry Yang in 1994, Yahoo was one of the most popular search engines in the 90s and early 2000s.
Sadly, the company has gone downhill over the years. Bing now powers it, and some may even see it as an outdated search engine. But all is not lost, as Yahoo still has some features up its sleeve.
What makes Yahoo a better alternative search engine?
If you’re using other Yahoo services like finance, sports, email, and Yahoo Answers, then it provides better search results. You get more information about topics, as Yahoo pulls data from its other services.
3. DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo is perhaps one of the top private search engines. It places high importance on securing the privacy of its searchers.
Founded in 2008 by Gabriel Weinberg, DuckDuckGo brings you search results from over 400 different sources. It also has its own crawler and partners with Bing as well.
One of the key features that set DuckDuckGo apart is that it avoids filter bubbles. A filter bubble is when users get personalized search results based on their previous browsing history.
What makes DuckDuckGo a better alternative search engine?
As you can see, DuckDuckGo prides itself on being a secure search engine that doesn’t compromise on privacy. It doesn’t store any personal information, record user’s IP addresses, or user’s past history to modify its search results.
So, if you’re looking for a search engine that’s more secure than Google, then DuckDuckGo is a great option.
4. Baidu
Baidu is an alternative to Google for people in China. That’s because Google and its services don’t work in mainland China, so Baidu the go-to search engine for users.
The search engine is in Mandarin and if you access the search engine, you’ll get a similar interface and user experience as Google.
That said, Baidu is heavily regulated due to the strict censorship laws in China. So, you won’t get extensive information about the topics.
What makes Baidu a better alternative search engine?
Baidu has an advantage over Google that it works in China. Since you cannot use Google, Baidu is the best alternative. And if you’re planning on attracting visitors from China to your website, then instead of optimizing your content for Google, you can focus on ranking on Baidu.
5. Yandex
Yandex is another popular internet search engine that’s based in Russia and makes the top 5 search engines in the world in terms of market share.
It’s more than just a search engine. The company offers other services like transportation, eCommerce, online advertisem*nts, mobile apps, and navigation. And just like Google, Yandex also offers its own browser.
What makes Yandex a better alternative search engine?
Yandex offers the same search features as Google, but what makes it better is its huge presence in Russia. It commands almost 56% of market share in Russia, making it the most popular search engine in the region.
Not only that, but Yandex is also used in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. This provides benefits for anyone who is looking to business in these countries. By focusing your search engine optimization for Yandex, you’ll have a better chance of attracting and converting visitors.
And if you use Yandex’s cloud storage, then you can look up your files in the search engine – cool feature isn’t it!
6. Twitter
Twitter is mainly a social media platform, but it can also be a powerful search engine. If you’re looking for the latest news or information about a trending topic, then nothing beats Twitter.
By searching hashtags, profile handles, or simple keywords, you can get real-time updates about anything. And through Twitter, you can uncover interesting topics and resolve your customer’s queries.
What makes Twitter a better alternative search engine?
In terms of speed of getting up to date news, Twitter beats Google hands down. In fact, you’ll find a section of Tweets on Google search results, just like People Also Ask, infoboxes, and featured snippets.
So, if you want breaking news, opinion about a topic, real-time feedback, and minute by minute update, then Twitter should be your preferred search engine.
7. StartPage
StartPage is among the top secure search engines and was created with privacy in mind. How secure is the search engine?
For starters, it doesn’t track IP addresses and there are no tracking cookies to monitor users’ search behavior. And the best part of all, it brings search results from Google. So, you don’t have to worry about the lack of information or irrelevant searches.
What makes StartPage a better alternative search engine?
StartPage offers privacy features that you won’t find in Google. You get a proxy service that lets you browse the internet anonymously. It also offers a custom URL generator, which you can use to browse the web without the need for setting cookies.
And since StartPage is based in the Netherlands, it complies with GDPR regulations, helping protect the privacy of EU citizens.
8. Ecosia
Ecosia is a search engine that’s designed to help the environment and fight climate change. With every search that you perform, Ecosia plants trees around the world through its own profits.
It roughly donates about 80% of its profits for tree plantation, which means that it plants 1 tree for every 50 searches.
Ecosia uses Bing to power its search engine but also uses its own algorithm to enhance the searches.
What makes Ecosia a better alternative search engine?
In addition to minimizing the carbon footprint left behind by search engines, Ecosia offers privacy features that you won’t find in Google. For instance, it doesn’t create a permeant search profile of users and deletes data from its database after one week.
Ecosia doesn’t sell data to third parties or advertisers. There are no external tracking tools in the search engine, and you can switch off trackingEcosia does that to improve its service. And through encrypted search, it keeps the user’s privacy safe.
9. Swisscows
Swisscows is another privacy-centric search engine and is based in Switzerland. It’s powered by Bing but uses its own index for queries in the German language.
Like many other private search engines on our list, Swisscows doesn’t track users browsing patterns, collect data, or creates their search profiles. It even has its own firewall that filters personal identifiers before passing data on to Bing.
What makes Swisscow a better alternative search engine?
Privacy is at the heart of Swisscows search engine and that’s what separates it from Google. It automatically screens out any content that contains p*rnographic or violent material.
And it uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to understand the user’s query and then bring you search results.
Final Words
There are many search engines that you can use instead of Google. If your focus is on maintaining your privacy, then search engines like DuckDuckGo, StartPage, and Swisscows are a suitable option.
And if you’re looking to do business in a specific location then you can try to optimize your site for Baidu and Yandex.
This brings us to the end of our guide.
We hope you liked our article on alternative search engines that are better than Google. If you want, you can also go through our guide on how to set up Google Analytics in WordPress.
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