How is Google Different?

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Winning the search results game on the Google search engine is every marketer’s Nirvana. SEO Consultants usually focus on what it takes to win on Google because that is simply where most search activity takes place. Other search engines are not completely without value.

For internet search, Google is clearly the major provider and therefore deserves the most focus. Overwhelmingly, the Google search engine is the user’s choice for internet search – currently handling at least 80% of all search traffic. According to others, this figure may be as high as 90%. Google provides an easy to use and understand search interface that most internet users prefer. Is this changing? Possibly.

Yahoo! has beaten its corporate head against the Google brick wall for many years and has so far failed to attract many Google users. The Bing seach system has been upgraded, had a face lift and has supposedly improved its search delivery system. According to the Bing marketing team, Google results are confusing and often irrelevant. They even came up with some good ad campaigns to support this message. Microsoft’s mapping system is a useful feature found – among other enhancements – on Bing. (The Virtual Earth mapping platform is clear, easy to use and offers interactive advantages over other competitors).)

From the consumer’s standpoint though, Microsoft’s ‘Bing’ search engine essentially functions the same as Google, and attempts to deliver the user exactly what the user wants without ancillary and possibly irrelevant page links. Fewer paid links clutter the Bing results page.

Does the future of internet search belong then to Bing? Strategic mistakes are probably the only obstacles to continued Google dominance of this market space though. And given Google’s ability to make good decisions, this appears unlikely. Google wins the 80-20 rule here by controling 80% of all traffic and leaving the rest for others.

In cases of similar search requests, do various engines produce the same results? Search engines elsewhere will display results different from those found on Google. Naturally, each search engine has a unique process for determing results. Still, these processes generally work the same and within some variation, deliver similar results. The Yahoo search engine occasionally places new pages highly on search results! and Bing – but will frequently fail to appear on Googe as that system places newer places up at a slower pace.

Attempting to optimize for both search engines is probably a waste of time and effort until Microsoft and Bing can come up with a good enough new feature to hack into the Google market share. Besides, optimizing for Google results have shown to be reasonably effective for Bing and Yahoo! Optimization methods useful for Google are also useful for other engines.

SEOs should track search results for all pages in Yahoo! and Bing – particularly for new pages. Pages recently posted will usually appear as results more quickly on Yahoo! and Bing – which serves the remaining search request traffic.

In the end though, it is not worth varying your optimization efforts for one search engine over another. The key elements will always be:

• Useful content,
• Relevant links,
• Frequent updates.

Stick to these fundamentals and select your keywords carefully, and over time, your page should compete well on all search engines.

Denver SEO Consultants provide assistance to businesses utilizing the internet to improve sales and win new customers.  Visit our SEO blog to learn more!  Find out how even a small HVAC business page wins new customers using local Search Engine Marketing methodologies.

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