When we think of search, we think “Google.”
There are good reasons the company’s name has become the de facto verb for online searching. Google provides cataloged search, delivering results for media, news, maps, videos, and more. Even the recent advent of AI is largely responsible for Google’s efforts to return the simplest result to your every question.
But is Google still the best way to get your answers online? A quick Google search shows that Google’s market share is slipping, albeit slightly. Google previously had well over 90% of the search market share, but has dropped as low as 87% in the past year, with Bing, Yahoo!, and other smaller search engines picking up the slack [1].
So what else is out there?
Bing
Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, is definitely a contender for stealing users from Google. The tool went from 5.8% market share in April of 2023 to 7.8% in April of this year. A big driver of that was the integration of the popular AI tool ChatGPT. Bing no longer has the exclusive on ChatGPT, but some people have been converted. Keep in mind that Bing also powers Yahoo! Search and some other smaller search engines, which counts for another 2-3% of market share.
Perplexity
Speaking of AI, have you tried out Perplexity? This tool works a bit differently than your traditional search engine.
Type in your search and immediately get an answer — information culled from various websites. You can skip the process of wading through the search results for the information you need and skip straight to insights. Perplexity also returns its sources, giving you a list of the pages the information came from so you can still visit those sites for yourself with ease.
This may not be what you’re looking for; often we search seeking to visit a specific site. But if you’re searching for knowledge, Perplexity is a shortcut to getting there, saving the time and energy of visiting multiple sites along the way.
Ecosia
Do you spend a lot of time searching? Do it for the planet.
Ecosia is a search tool that plants trees. The company donates approximately 80% of its profits to support tree-planting and other climate technology projects around the world. The company earns profits from ad clicks and the promotion of affiliate links — as other search engines do — but those profits are driven to environmental initiatives rather than shareholders. The company also prioritizes privacy, collecting less user data and giving its users more control over what is shared. If you’re an environmentally conscious consumer, you want to check out Ecosia.
Making the Switch
Switching search is easier than you think! Did you know that most modern browsers will let you choose your default search tool?
To make a change, just go to Settings > Search (or a similar variation) and you should find a dropdown list of search engine options. Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Duck Duck Go are common options, with Ecosia available on Chrome, Safari, and the privacy-friendly Brave browser.
If you’re looking for even more convenience, consider adding the Perplexity extension to your Chromium or Firefox browsers. You can click on it to type in your question and get a response in a pop-up, without needing to open a single tab.
[1] – StatCounter.com, Search Engine Market Share, North America
