Bing vs Google – Recent Changes in Market Share
Bing is still in third place when compared to Google and Yahoo according to a recent survey, but both the second place and third place search engines are gaining market share while Google and the fourth and fifth place search engines, Ask and AOL are losing market share. However, all four alternative search engines are still light years away from catching up to Google.
The Numbers Change – But Not Much
From March to April, Google lost .3% of their search engine traffic to the point where they had 65.4% instead of 65.7%. Yahoo was in second place with 15.9 percent of the market, up from 15.7 percent and Bing saw a slight increase, from 13.9% to 14.1%. In other words, Google still dominates two thirds of the search engine market though Bing is increasing its share.
From December 2009, Bigger Changes
I also looked up the results from December 2009, around when Bing was just getting started to see where things stood then. Google was at 65.4% then as well, but Microsoft did see a nice bump from a 10.7% share of the market back then. Interestingly, most of that bump came from Yahoo, which moved down from 17.3% in December, 2009.
Breaking it All Down
Okay, so let’s talk about this in practical terms. Bing is currently as good as Google when it comes to search results, offering virtually identical results to those found on Google, as you can see in my recent blog post on the subject. The slight differences between the two don’t seem to offer much in the way of concern either way.
A Viable Alternative to Google
What is interesting to note however is that Bing has clearly begun to climb in market share while Google has remained stagnant. Even though the numbers are still quite lopsided, the reality is that Bing is starting to build itself up as a viable alternative to Google, if only for those who decide that they don’t like Google for whatever reason.
As Far as SEO is Concerned
As far as the question of search engine optimization is concerned, I think it still pays to optimize websites according to the needs of Google. They are still by far the most popular search engine and are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Even if Bing eventually manages to make it past 20%, and that’s a big if, the reality is that Google will still have a commanding lead.
Plus, the fact that I found that search results for the two sites were virtually identical from one to the other means that you can make a safe bet by working to optimize for Google since Bing will likely follow along.
I used all Google , Yahoo and Bing search engines, Google always rocks ! No match.
Eh. To be honest I think most people are used to Google more than anything else. I’ve tried the others and always switch back to Google as well. However, I’ve always found what I needed elsewhere. It’s just that I’m comfortable with Google.
Bing almost never has what I’m looking for as one of the top results…it’s at the bottom of the first page at best. Both Google & Yahoo are about the same for results – however, I really like the simplicity of Google’s webpage. It’s not blaring news, celebrity gossip, stock prices, and movie openings at me like Yahoo does unless I ask for it.
Indeed. However I think the recent addition of Facebook listings may make them more popular.
I think 90% net user used search engine as a google. I couldn’t resist commenting. Well written!
It’s not 90% but they still do have the lions share of searches. Notice that Bing advertises heavily whereas Google never bothers to do so. That alone says something about who is on top.