Is It Time To Switch Search Engines?

I use Bing myself, as well.
I'm interested in hearing what others have to say about Google - myself, I don't hinge anything on SEO or any particular engine, I honestly will bear little if any brunt of any changes or shifts. My leads (I am a freelancer) aren't usually from my website.

Until Bing implements a search by date feature, I can't make the switch

I rarely even rely on google SEO anymore. One day you're on page 1, next week you're on page 24. Ridiculous. I definitely find it easier to rank high on Bing and Yahoo though.

Can someone please explain to me how Google can be fined for not adding their competitors in the search results?

Shouldn't it be their choice what they can do with their business? Or are they so big that a different set of rules apply to them?

Last I checked, Bing wasn't giving the best results. Have they gotten better? Guess it's more habit to use google for me. Sure it's the same for many people.

Though, as many have said, you can't rely on one search engine or or stream of traffic.

Seems to me Google is still the best. I don't think Yahoo and Bing have any chance unless they make some drastic changes and improvements.

Hopefully we will not wait too long for some new player to bring the very much needed fresh air, since I don't like Google's monopoly situation and I'm pretty much bored with all of them...

Its funny how the whole world relies on Google – when people talk about SEO they really mean ‘GO’ – ‘Google Optimization’.
I’m not sure how many ‘engines’ are still out there.
Maybe we should remember some of the others out there and some that have long since vanished, here’s a list I found:

• Google
• AOL Search
• CompuServe Search
• Groovle
• MySpace Search
• Netscape
• Ripple
• Yahoo!
• Ecocho
• Everyclick (formerly based on Ask.com)
• Forestle
• GoodSearch
• Rectifi
• Bing
• A9.com
• Alexa Internet
• Ciao!
• Facebook
• Ms. Dewey
• Yahoo! Search
• Ask.com
• Hakia (semantic search)
• iWon
• Lycos
• Teoma
Defunct or acquired search engines
• AltaVista (acquired by Yahoo! in 2003, shut down in 2013)
• Cuil
• IBM STAIRS
• Infoseek
• Inktomi
• Overture.com (formerly GoTo.com, now Yahoo! Search Marketing)
• Wikia Search

It will take a large move to Bing or an alternative before Google loses it’s stranglehold.

I have given up trying to please the search engines.

Obviously i make my sites as search engine friendly as possible but i concentrate on other traffic methods now and eventually the search engines will pick me up if they want to.

I use Google and that's a personal preference. I have tried other search engines and they don't return the results I want as fast and as accurate as Google.

No matter how much we all are tired of Google but the reality is that we have no choice other than digesting it...

Using Google is a habit, and human beings are slaves of their habits.

Habits become rituals.

Wish we could punish Google for its drastic algorithm changes, after so many years of tolerance.

I chuckled at this.

I still use Google and can't see myself switching any time soon.

Love them or hate them, the stats shows who sends the most traffic. Can any one say they get more from the other search engines?

Google is still the best but I think the quality of their search results has gone WAY down in the past year or so. It used to be so easy to find exactly what you were looking for on the Big G. That is no longer the case at all and it sucks!

I switched to Bing as my default search engine a couple years ago both in response to changes by Google and also in an effort to support Yahoo/Bing. I will search Google directly if I believe it will provide better results, which is often the case with longtail keywords, but if I can give the search query to Microsoft instead I will.

Hmmm, l live also in Canada, Bing is good, but the important factor is how you make it become alive on any search engine is more important then switching search engines. Just by switching provides you with really no advantages... How could it?

Think this............. review my blog for some answers... all the best..

"Networking is a contact Sport"

I feel comfortable using Google regardless of these news so I won't switch as long as Google is online.

As an SEO I can still stick with Google.

Google is still in the play, but yes yahoo and bing are it's all time competitors and yahoo has beaten google on many occassions. But if at any time google loses it's marketing power for businesses, facebook will be there to rescue.

I hate when EU or US try to regulate things it just makes it worst not better. If google can win 100% of the market let them, I'm not a fan of them but even less of EU trying to regulate something (or US). But i'm the 1% so I'm sure more regulation to come I guess I'm just frustrated and venting at all the government BS when it comes to this stuff.

So much easier to rank on bing and yahoo but I don't think you should drop one in favour of the other. Just diversify your SEO.

Does anyone know if Bing and Yahoo use similar methods to rank search results as Google?

Do they manually create their directories or use 'crawlers'?

That was a nice discussion going on; but from my point of view; they got branded and making others to use their products (already did Android in smartphones). But, still now we can't see a good competitor for them in search engine. Why does all need to go on searching on Google even we know they are recording your privacy in whatever you search and showing ads according to that. From that we are still targeting keywords and earning as well. But it's just a brand "Google" and people are still stuck into it.

I have tried hard to use other search engines, but I always end up coming back to Google. I just like the results they give back more than anybody else.

The only exception is if I ever do a video search, I like the way Bing returns videos more than Google.

I can't believe nobody has commented on upon how Google needs to get a lecture from none other than Cutts himself on what good, non-duplicate content is:

Google also proposed that its rivals, which had complained that Google copied content from their websites without permission, would decide which content the company could use.

From a user standpoint, I love Google.

Just as an example... On a rare occasion where I was actually watching TV, Forrest Gump was on last night and that scene was happening in Washington DC of the guy with the American Flag shirt was speaking at the rally at the monument and somehow of course, Forrest ended up on stage to talk about Vietnam.

I didn't know who the guy was in the shirt. So I started typing

american flag guy...

Google finished my search term exactly how I was about to write it...

american flag guy in forrest gump

LOL

Now from marketing/SEO point of view - I could care less about ranking on Google or any search engine for that matter.

I've made more money this year then I've ever made and I havent spent any time worrying about Google updates and algorithm changes.

Google works great for me, and I get a lot of traffic from Google for my website. I don't understand why you would want to switch.

No, not by a long shot.

Ditto what BigMike wrote, Google isn't going anywhere. They've implemented business strategies years ago which assumes that the Search Engine market will eventually either disappear or change radically, hence their diversification.

Too early to tell yet, though I suspect it will be marginal at best.

Impossible to know this figure, but one thing is for sure; ANY marketer who puts all their eggs in one basket, specifically, only focus on ONE way of getting trafffic (such as SEO) is in for a rude awakening. It's inevitable.

I did, many years ago. It's not good business sense to rely on only one marketing strategy, one platform, one method, etc. So Google is a very small percentage of the traffic I get today, so if they were to go out of business (highly unlikely for many years) it wouldn't impact me.

There are plenty of ways to get traffic without Google. You can buy traffic, you can use networks, you can recruit affiliates if you have your own product or service, you can create viral marketing campaigns, you can create free software / apps and give it a way for free, use platforms such as Kindle, iTunes, etc.

RoD

If you're asking if you should switch search engines for your own searching needs, that's a personal preference. Do what you prefer.

If you're asking if you should gear your marketing to other search engines... Well, you're asking the wrong questions and wasting your time worrying about it at all.

Search engines will always be changing their algorithms to 1) continually serve up relevant, accurate results for searchers (which by definition changes constantly as people and technology change) and 2) keep people from gaming the system (because it makes their search service worthless)

Therefore, you have ALMOST NO CONTROL over your business if you're depending primarily on search engine traffic. And only a fool builds a business he has almost no control over. Do not hand your business success over to the whims of the search engines!

When your business is dependent on the search engines, you really don't have a business. You have a gambling system. Only it's worse because, as Alexa Smith points out, search engine traffic is the worst-converting traffic out of all other traffic available to you.

Instead, create your own steady, consistent, reliable, QUALIFIED traffic with OTHER methods:

1. PPC
2. Joint ventures/referrals
3. Direct mail
4. Teleseminars
5. Webinars
6. Etc.

Yes, be smart and do some keyword research before posting your articles and videos, etc. But SEO should be LAST on your list of marketing methods. It should be mostly a happy accident if you have good SEO. Strive to control as much of the buying process as possible. SEO hands your control over to Google or any other search engine.

If you still insist on worrying about SEO and pleasing the search engines:

Google is still the 800-lb gorilla in the online search space and whether YOU prefer another search engine is completely irrelevant if the majority of your target audience is still using Google. If they're using Google, YOU need to be gearing your marketing for Google.

Hope that helps!

Michelle

A $5 billion fine is not the end of Google, period. A new SE will someday give them a run for their money but not in the immediate future.

Personally I switched to duckduckgo a while ago after watching the movie "Terms and Conditions May Apply"

You can fine Google any amount you want to fine them, but it's not going to dent their pockets. All you're doing is poking the ankles of a giant.

The only thing that would successfully kill Google is Google.

However, I have a bunch of delusional clients who continue to contact me with their new "SEO Google" aimed tricks they think that work. I've given up trying to tell people the basics, everyone has little tricks they think make a difference.

Why would you use bing, what does bing bring to the table that google doesn't? Google is not going anywhere anytime soon.