SEO is a marketing tool that can help your company generate leads and credibility.
While most marketers rightly focus on Google and Bing, the search engine landscape is changing and there are other players in the space worth checking out.
DuckDuckGo and 100 billion searches
The privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo, recently announced on Twitter that they’ve surpassed 100 billion searches.
And, last year, they announced the company was hitting over 100 million searches per day.
So while some people might not have heard of DuckDuckGo, they continue to see steady growth on their search platform.
Why should you care about DuckDuckGo?
Consumer privacy is a big issue in tech and it’s what has led to the industry-altering decisions by Apple and Google to get rid of third-party cookies.
While DuckDuckGo doesn’t have the search volume of Google and Bing, they do:
- Center their commitment to consumer privacy in their marketing message.
- Continue to grow because of their commitment to privacy, despite the dominance of the big two search engines.
- Serve a segment of the search engine user market that big tech ignores.
DuckDuckGo will most likely not overtake Google and Bing anytime soon. Still, they’ve shown how to effectively use messaging and positioning to take business away from the dominant players by highlighting what they do differently.
Neeva and ad-free search
Neeva is a search engine that exists because the company knows many people are “sick of” ads showing in their search results.
Google gets a lot of heat because it’s challenging to differentiate between ads and unpaid search results. That heat has intensified because recent research has shown that one in five ads served on their search results for 78 climate-related terms is placed by firms with interests in fossil fuels.
I predict that the “sick of ads” segment will continue to grow.
Why ad-free search from Neeva matters
Yes, most people have probably never heard of Neeva, but marketers should care about the ad-free search engine experience they provide. It’s distinct, new, and it feels like a platform that could catch on as more people become aware of it.
As Neeva attempts to meet the demands of a growing segment of search engine users, their service sheds light on the larger context of the industry, including how:
- The digital marketing industry changes, and though there are dominant players, there will always be those who attempt to disrupt the market.
- Smaller companies can chip away at market share with steady growth that serves a certain segment better than the big guys.
- There’s a market for your service no matter how niche it might seem.
I don’t know if Neeva will catch on, but I do know financial success and popularity is possible, even if they don’t overtake Google or Bing.
For example, I used to believe there was no hope for Microsoft Advertising (FKA Bing Ads). However, they just announced they’ve reached 1 billion people globally, so I know not to dismiss Microsoft Advertising ﹣ even if they haven’t put Google Ads out of business.
Lastly, you should also care about what DuckDuckGo and Neeva demonstrate in terms of marketing.
Both search engines take a different approach than the big two, but they show that leading with your message will help you find the audience looking for what you offer.
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