Who’s Searching Where and Why Does It Matter?

Once upon a time, shortly after dinosaurs ruled the earth but before Google became a verb, there were a million and one different search engines vying for the attention of a relatively small pool of Internet users.

Time passed. We all got up to speed on the making fire and using simple tools stuff and started gravitating toward Google. HotBot became a distant memory. That search engine with the red spider mascot whose name I can’t remember drifted into history’s mist. Everyone gathered round the Big G and the battle for search engine supremacy was nothing more than a legend that kids wouldn’t believe.

Well, not quite everyone went to Google. And a few stragglers kept fighting G out on the hinterlands.

So, if we’re going to be completely honest about things we shouldn’t pretend like Google is the only search engine that matters. Sure, they dominate the race. But the overall volume of Internet users is growing so quickly that even those engines that only claim a slim piece of the pie can be important.

ComScore recently released its February, 2009 search engine rankings. Obviously, Google was on top, getting 63% of the action. Yahoo came in at slightly over 20%. Microsoft was at 8.2%. Ask.com and AOL both snagged around 4%.

What does this really mean, though? Well, the big lesson to be learned is that about 4 out of every 10 searches aren’t coming from Google. That’s a sizable chunk. And we all know that most SEOs focus almost exclusively at pleasing Google. That leaves around 40% of all search engine action in a slightly less competitive state. We also know that if you’re not ranking way up there in the Google SERPs, it probably isn’t doing you all that much good.

Consider these hypothetical question for a moment. Would you rather be on Page 4 for your keyword at Google or Page 1 at Yahoo? Would you rather be on Page 5 at Yahoo or the overall top spot on Ask.com?

It seems as though it might make sense to start investigating ways to climb the charts on some of those secondary engines. Obviously, what’s good for G is probably good for the others, but each has interesting wrinkles and predilections. Those are probably worth exploring.