10 Top Search Engines To Use In 2024

 If you are asked to list a few search engines apart from Google, how many can you list? Not more than 2 or 3 right, we understand this. Beside Google there are a lot many top search engines available for you to explore and use. 

Further in this blog we will cover some of the best search engine available in the industry and help you get a basic understanding of various types of search engines as well. Let’s get going with it. 

What is a Search Engine?

Some of you reading this know about this, but those who are starting out their journey with the basics: A search engine is an online tool available which allows you to search for different types of information and content available over the internet. 

A search engine keeps exploring different web pages available on the internet and gathers information about them. When a user searches for a query, based on the search engine’s algorithm and ranking system it displays different results based on the relevance to the query. 

Moreover, not every search engine is the same, instead there are different types of search engines available. 

• Crawler based search engines: leverages a crawler or a bot to crawl over the internet to look for new information and content to be included in the relevant search results.

• Human powered directories: also referred as open directories and works when website description is being offered by human input along with the category for the website.

• Hybrid search engines: leverages crawling/indexing and manual listing for gathering new information and websites to be included in search results.

Moving on, let’s have a look at some of the top search engines that are available.

1. Google

Considered as one of the top search engines with a market share of around 85%, Google has been ruling the industry for quite some time now. It was first launched in 1998, about 25 years back at a time where not many search engines existed.

Google receives 95% of search traffic on mobile phones, while capturing 80% of desktop traffic. Google was launched with an intent of offering relevant search results to users and in the years, it has succeeded to do so. It has been number one in the search engines list through the years while offering highly relevant information and enhanced experience for the users.

Its algorithm has been updated constantly with new features being added for offering the users an enhanced search experience. Google runs on its internal algorithm (ranking system) which ranks and segregates the relevant information to a search query.

Being one of the top search engines even after 25 years of its launch, Google is one of the most beneficial search engines for marketers to integrate paid search and other campaigns to generate more traffic, leads and revenue for their business.

However, one downside of Google is that almost every business is running such campaigns to get more leads and traffic and is fighting for the same audience which makes it difficult for businesses to get results instantly.

2. Microsoft Bing

Another trending name in the search engines list is Microsoft Bing. This was introduced by Microsoft in the year 2009 as its own search engine. It is the second largest and most visited search engine after Google and consists of 2.8% of the search traffic.

It is leveraged by users due to its capability of strong multimedia search such as images, and videos. However, the most interesting part of the Bing search engine is that it offers ‘Rewards’. These rewards are earned with every search on the search engine and can contribute to a gift card or towards a charitable donation as well.

In the year 2023, Bing became the first and mainstream search engine to launch its AI-powered search assistant. Additionally, Bing uses its own search algorithm for crawling and indexing which makes the search results different as compared to other search engines.

3. Yahoo

It is one of the largest providers of email services and is the third largest search engine in the search engines list. It was launched in the year 1994, even before Google was launched making it one of the oldest search engines to be introduced.

It consists of 1.4% of market share among the top search engines. At this point Yahoo search runs on the algorithms offered by Bing hence, there are certain similarities between the two. However, for a few years Yahoo search was also governed by Google’s algorithms.

In addition to being a search engine, Yahoo has evolved itself to become a web portal as well offering different forms of trending contents such as news, articles, and other relevant information in various segments such as sports, business, weather, and others.

4. Yandex 

Russia’s most popular and top search engines Yandex consists of a market share of 0.1-1.5%. Whereas it consists of about 57% of local market share in the  Russian market while also being used in other countries such as Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Belarus.

In addition to being a Russian search engine, Yandex is also available globally in English for other users to access. Similar to Google, Yandex also offers different services such as maps, voice assistant, web browser, music streaming platform, and ride-hailing services as well.

Furthermore, the algorithm that Yandex implements for its ranking factors is often regarded similar as the one integrated by Google and linked to the ex-Google employees being hired at Yandex.

Yandex also offers certain additional features such as site quality index (SQI) badges next to the website in the search results which indicates the relevance of the website and the content to the users.

5. DuckDuckGo

If you are tired of Google leveraging all your information while offering you information, DuckDuckGo is the best alternative for you. This search engine does the exact opposite of what Google has been doing while offering you personalized search results.

It has a market reach of 0.5% and doesn't leverage the user information for personalized search results, hence, the search results remain the same for everyone. It further doesn’t have a search index of its own and leverages other sources for indexing and crawling.

This being a downside of DuckDuckGo, it consists of a simple and clean interface that doesn’t use or misuse the user information in any manner and doesn’t show a lot of ads to the user, offering an ad-free search experience.

6. Baidu

In the search engines list Baidu is a China based search engine founded in the year 2000 with a steadily growing market share with a local market share of around 62% in China.

Baidu is similar to Google in various aspects such as offering additional services like maps, encyclopedias, news, and a cloud storage space as well. In addition to this, the algorithms of this search engine are designed to suit the needs of the Chinese audience. Hence, if you are looking to target Chinese audiences, Baidu is your go to platform.

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