The vast majority of traffic flowing through the internet is being directed by search engines. Without search engines, it would be all but impossible to find what we wanted on the internet. Without knowing which URL to visit, we would be dependent upon manually-maintained directories – websites that would function as a digital Yellow Pages.

Fortunately, we do have search engines and they are more sophisticated than ever before. Everyone is familiar with Google – it is the default search engine for most people. However, not only are there other search engines out there, but they are rapidly gaining in popularity; Google is no longer the only player in town.

Below are five smaller search engines who are still worth targeting with your SEO.

DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo has been growing in popularity for some time. As internet users become more aware of their online privacy and the importance of protecting it, lots of people are turning away from tech titans like Google who are notorious for harvesting as much data from their customers as humanly possible. DuckDuckGo was developed as an alternative to Google, a search engine with an emphasis on user privacy.

To this end, DuckDuckGo is currently the first choice for most users who are concerned with their privacy. In terms of raw numbers, DuckDuckGo has only a very small amount of market share, but it is one of the most important search engines to target beyond Google. Its market share might still be tiny in comparison to Google, but the rate at which its user base is growing is a testament to how much the concept of a privacy-focussed search engine appeals to the market at large.

Any business that is privacy-focused, or that wants to appeal to demographics who are, should focus at least some of their resources at DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo is also the default search engine for the TOR browser, another tool that has long been popular with the most privacy-conscious internet users.

Ecosia

Ecosia is a multiplatform web browser and search engine maintained by the Ecosia foundation. Ecosia is an excellent search engine to target if you want to improve your corporate social responsibility efforts. As consumers grow more selective of the businesses that they patronize, they are increasingly turning their backs on businesses who don’t display any sense of responsibility when it comes to contemporary social issues. For many consumers, one of the most important factors in determining who they give their money to is environmentalism.

Supporting businesses that openly pollute the planet is rapidly becoming taboo. Consequently, businesses that have clear pro-environment stances and who make an effort to reduce their carbon footprint while maximizing their eco-friendly policies will have a much easier time selling themselves to consumers today. Investing in Ecosia is an excellent way of showing your users that you are serious about your eco commitments.

For the most part, Ecosia works like any other search engine – its results are powered by Bing search. What makes Ecosia special is that it will occasionally display ads to its users. As with all online advertising, when an ad is served to a human user and or clicked on, it will generate money for someone. In Ecosia, this money goes to the Ecosia foundation, which then uses it to pay for the planting of new trees.

Targeting Ecosia for SEO will help to get your business and brand in front of a more environmentally-conscious audience. Letting your users know about Ecosia and your support for it will show them that you care about the environment and want to support other businesses with the same attitude. Because Ecosia is powered by Bing, you can kill two birds with one stone as far as SEO is concerned. However, if you want to reap the maximum rewards in terms of the boost to your business’ reputation, let your users know that you are optimized for Ecosia.

Bing & Yahoo

Because Google remains the undisputed king of the search engine world, lots of people are under the impression that it is superior to the competition in every way. While there is no doubt lots to like about Google, there are some areas where rival search engines can offer their users a better service.

A good example of this can be found with Bing. Many people have observed that Bing is much better for performing searches for videos. Other benefits of Bing include its noticeably lower bounce rates, as well as higher rates of website engagement according to several metrics.

Bing powers a number of other search engines, including the aforementioned Ecosia and Yahoo search. As a result, when you submit a website to Bing, it will automatically be added to Yahoo search as well. As far as your SEO is concerned, you can consider both of these engines to be a single entity.

Amazon

Ok, so Amazon isn’t technically a search engine. However, consumers are more likely to search for physical products on Amazon than they are on Google. When searching for physical products, many people will also include ‘Amazon’ in their search query in order to quickly identify whether they can purchase what they’re after through the e-commerce giant or not.

It is therefore sensible for many businesses to invest in SEO for Amazon so that their products are more likely to appear near the top of results pages. This is easier said than done and some SEO professionals have even noted that Amazon is even more difficult to secure a high ranking on than Google. As you might have expected, Amazon has its own set of rules and its own methods for determining SEO that differs from Google in a number of ways.

However, once you understand the fundamentals of how to improve your SEO for Amazon, you can then incorporate many of the same SEO strategies that you have been using on other search engines. There are lots of resources available that will provide you with guidance you need to develop Amazon-specific strategies.

If you are focusing your SEO efforts entirely on Google, you will be limiting your potential reach. Internet users are increasingly looking elsewhere and many are openly lamenting the perceived lack of alternatives to Google. Investing in any of the search engines above is worth your time and money if you want to maximize your business’s potential reach.