Which internet search engine is the most popular?

Search engines are tools that have been helping us browse the internet for years. Using them, we can find information on any topic, search for products and images or browse maps. But which is the most popular?

The most popular search engine in the world

The most used search engine in the world is Google, which holds a leading position in the global market. According to data provided by StatCounter Global Stats covering the period from February 2022 to the present, the share of this search engine was 92.25%. This means that it is chosen on a daily basis by the majority of internet users, regardless of the language they speak.

The most popular search engine in Poland

In Poland, the vast majority of users use the Google search engine. For this reason, all positioning activities are usually carried out under its requirements.

According to statistics, Google accounts for more than 95% of the search engine market in Poland.

Search engine market in Poland

What makes the Google search engine so popular?

First of all, its simplicity and intuitiveness of use. This search engine offers not only results, but also hints and suggestions that make it easier to find the information you are looking for. It also has the most indexed websites. In addition, Google is constantly developing its tools such as Google Maps, Google Scholar and Google Books. It is also closely integrated with Gmail, YouTube or Google Analytics, making the whole system even more convenient and effective.

Other helpful features of Google Search that account for its popularity are:

Fragments with answer: These are fields that display a specific answer to a question asked by the user. An explanation is created by Google’s system when it decides it would be appropriate and the page containing it meets all the required conditions. Clicking on the section with the answer then takes the user to the selected area of the page without scrolling.

Example of “Featured Snippet” answer snippet

Graph/knowledge panel: The Graph, or Knowledge Panel, is a database collected by Google that contains information about more than 5 billion things, people, places and facts. These are displayed on the right-hand side of the screen when a phrase is typed in. Google’s algorithms search for the information and link it together to allow the user to see it all in one place.

Example knowledge panel/graph

Directions: Google also provides directions to the selected location directly from the search engine, presents a section of the map with the route marked and estimates how long the journey will take.

Example route suggested by Google, after entering the phrase “how to get to seogroup from the train station”

Other useful features: Google Search is also licensed to publish content from external sources and provides information such as current weather, sports scores and tables or even movie screenings.

Bing, Yahoo or maybe Yandex?

The existence of other search engines such as Bing, Yahoo! or Yandex should not be overlooked.

Bing search engine from Microsoft

The Bing search engine is a product of Microsoft, which replaced its previous search engine Live Search in 2009. Although Bing initially struggled to compete with Google, it has recently been gaining popularity due to its advanced features and integration with OpenAI artificial intelligence.

According to the latest statistics, Bing currently accounts for around 2.8 per cent of the global search engine market, and around 3.1 per cent in Poland.

In addition to standard features such as text search results, information about companies and services or maps, Bing also has advanced image search functions:

• Image size – Ability to select image size from small, medium, large and extra large, or manually adjust the minimum width and height.
• Colour – We can select whether we want all images to be displayed to us, or only colour images or only black and white images. There is also an option to select the colour of your choice.
• Type – You can choose between photographs, cliparts, sketches, animated GIF files or photos without backgrounds.
• Layout – You can also select square, wide or tall photos.
• People – This is also an interesting option which allows you to select all photos of people, just faces or just the head and shoulders.
• Date – By selecting the date, we can avoid searching for old, out-of-date photos. You can choose from the last year, month, week,
  and even the last 24 hours.
• Licence – This function is also one of the most useful. Thanks to it, we can find, for example, those graphics that can be easily included on your website, shared and used for commercial purposes without charge.

Bing a ChatGPT

In February 2023, Microsoft introduced a new version of Bing integrated with artificial intelligence, i.e. the popular OpenAI chatbot ChatGPT, which allows you to get personalised answers to your questions, generate useful links or even ideas for stories, poems and presentations.

Bing AI ChatGPT uses the same technology as OpenAI and is based on the latest version of GPT-4. Bing uses Prometheus technology to connect to the chatbot and thus has the ability to respond even to current events. It is therefore ‘one step ahead’, as even the GPT-3 and ChatGPT tools were based on GPT-3.5 (and used a dataset dating back to September 2021) and not, like Bing, on GPT-4.

Bing also has safeguards in place to prevent abuse of the technology and often only provides hints for solving a problem rather than a ready-made solution.

Currently, the service is only available to registered users, but Microsoft is constantly working to expand access.

Yahoo search engine

Third place in both the global and Polish rankings is held byYahoo, but its popularity has declined significantly in recent years.

In Poland, this search engine is hardly used (0.62%), but in the United States it accounts for around 3% of the market. Yahoo offers similar features to Google and Bing, but the interface of this search engine is less intuitive and lacks the functionality of its two predecessors.

For the vast majority of users in Poland, the Yahoo search engine isassociated only with the Yahoo search redirect virusmalware, which causes the search engine to change its settings and redirect to undesirable websites. These viruses are most often spread via downloads or websites with dangerous content.

The malware uses popular names, such as just ‘Yahoo Search’, to trick users into installing unwanted applications or browser tools. While the user is trying to search for something on Yahoo, the virus redirects them to other websites that contain fake adverts, malware or attempt to phish for personal information. In addition, the virus can alter browser settings and add suspicious extensions or toolbars, which can slow down the browser and increase the risk of other infections.

Indeed, Yahoo’s original search engine should not redirect users to other sites without their consent.

Summary

The popularity of a particular search engine is not always related to user preferences. Political considerations must also be taken into account. For example, in China, where censorship is imposed, Google is blocked and the local search engine Baidu is the most popular. In Russia, the aforementioned Yandex dominates, and in South Korea the search engine Naver.

In summary, the leader among search engines in Poland and the world so far remains the Google search engine. However, it is important to remember that each search engine has its own advantages and disadvantages, so it is worth trying out several of them and choosing the one that best suits your needs.