What Are the Best Alternatives to Google? How Brands Can Succeed Off Google Search

Once I suppose again to my faculty days after we have been requested to finish analysis papers utilizing good old style books from the library, and I genuinely don’t suppose I may try this right this moment.

I’ve change into so accustomed to the huge accessibility of data on the Web that I’m keen to do something to take care of that entry, together with risking inaccurate data or an inefficient expertise.

And I’m not the one one who feels this fashion.

In HubSpot’s Consumer Trends research surveying greater than 700 customers in January 2024, 78% of customers stated they seek for manufacturers on-line utilizing a search engine like Google, and 79% use serps like Google to seek for solutions to questions, versus AI chatbots or social media.

Nevertheless, solely 51% discover serps like Google very efficient at answering their questions.

This implies many people blindly use Google as a result of it’s what we all know greatest and never as a result of we predict it’s good at what we’d like it to do. However we don’t must endure anymore — there are tons of great search engine options that aren’t Google.

Desk of Contents

What to Look For in an Different to Google

1. Advert-Free Expertise

Google has change into fairly an oversaturated promoting platform, and it is smart why. The platform can enhance model consciousness by as much as 80%, so it’s not surprising that 96% of brands use Google Pay-Per-Click Ads.

Whereas it’s nice as a enterprise proprietor or marketer to make use of this technique and may also be useful to customers as a technique to uncover new manufacturers, I may also sympathize with the frustration of struggling to seek out the most effective and quickest reply to a query as a result of I’m bombarded with solely barely related hyperlinks.

Subsequently, searching for search engine alternate options that restrict the advert expertise or assist no advertisements might be superb to extend the effectivity and efficacy of your search journey.

2. Excessive-High quality Solutions

It’s fairly fascinating to me that, as a society, we’ve developed such a behavior of looking queries on Google. In any case, in my expertise, I not often obtain a direct reply to my questions on this search engine.

Sure, Google can direct me to numerous assets that probably have the solutions I’m searching for, but it surely solely sometimes populates the most effective reply when utilizing its AI mannequin Gemini.

I’ve discovered that Gemini doesn’t all the time mechanically weigh in on my search outcomes, so I then must skim by varied hyperlinks and choose random web sites to return to conclusions.

Top search engines ought to do that work for me by analyzing all of the obtainable assets on-line and providing high-quality solutions to my questions.

3. Privateness

Privateness is an actual concern for a lot of customers. 75% of consumers agree that information privateness is a human proper and that they need to have full management over how an organization makes use of their information.

Whereas 85% of adults globally need to do extra to guard their on-line privateness utilizing providers like Google, 62% imagine it’s inconceivable to undergo their day by day lives with out firms like Google gathering their personal information.

There’s a approach, although, to take extra management over your privateness: by utilizing a search engine that emphasizes and focuses on information safety. This is a crucial consideration when searching for Google alternate options.

4. Particular Options

Whereas the primary goal of utilizing a search engine is to seek for solutions and data, many different traits can set a platform aside from opponents.

As an illustration, some serps have an environmental focus and can put advert income in direction of eco-friendly causes, and the identical applies to all types of charitable causes.

There are additionally family-friendly serps, AI serps, news-focused serps, and lots of extra choices that may align together with your pursuits and wishes.

When you’ve assessed which of those concerns are most vital in your evaluate of recent serps, check out my checklist of the most effective Google alternate options.

What are the most effective alternate options to Google?

Finest Advert-Free or Low-Advert Search Engines

1. Kagi

Kagi stresses high-quality, correct search outcomes with none advertisements. To keep up its ad-free standing, the platform expenses a subscription price of $5 per thirty days which replaces the required income to run the platform that will in any other case come from promoting.

I arrange my account and opted for the free trial which permits for 100 search outcomes. Then, I used to be in a position to customise the looks of the search engine in some ways.

After I up to date a few of these settings, I looked for my first check query.

What I Like

• Having the ability to customise my search expertise on Kagi is exclusive. I by no means realized how a lot of a distinction it makes once I can replace whether or not or not I see the web site’s icon or full URL within the search outcomes. This makes Kagi really feel very personalised and user-centric.
• The interface intently resembles Google, so it ought to be simple for customers to adapt to this new search engine.
• Reasonably than click on by a number of pages of search outcomes, I simply saved scrolling right down to see increasingly URLs. I loved this, as I’ve realized I usually get dissuaded from wanting past the primary web page of search outcomes on Google, which limits my outcomes.
• Kagi lists the date the web site was printed, which shortly helps me resolve if it’s applicable to click on on.

What I Don’t Like

• It’s not superb to should pay for a subscription, and I’m undecided many individuals will really feel inclined to take action when there are such a lot of free alternate options. Nevertheless, it is smart why they’ve this mannequin, to allow them to keep away from promoting — which is what many different companies like streaming providers do.

Pricing

• Starter plan: $5/month (300 searches per thirty days)
• Skilled plan: $10/month (Limitless searches per thirty days)
• Final plan: $25/month (Limitless searches + Kagi Assistant)

2. Mojeek

Mojeek is just not fully ad-free because it does show some textual content advertisements in search outcomes. Nevertheless, the advertisements on this platform are primarily based solely on search key phrases and placement and never on any information pulled from the consumer search engine.

Mojeek can be a lot much less ad-intensive than different serps, like Google. It has its personal net crawler and data index. In contrast to Google, Mojeek has an impartial advert platform the place manufacturers can place advertisements instantly on and individually from main serps.

What I Like

• Mojeek could be very simple and no-nonsense. As quickly as I entered this search engine, I may instantly start looking, so it was fast to be taught.
• Its interface additionally intently resembles Google, making it simply recognizable.
• The “Summarize these outcomes” function, which reveals up on the appropriate facet of the display screen beside the search outcomes, makes use of giant language fashions to generate a abstract of the search outcomes. It is a nice technique to incorporate AI for these like me searching for it, whereas additionally offering a straight search engine expertise for others.

What I Don’t Like

• Mojeek offers choices to go looking the identical question with different serps, akin to Courageous or Startpage. I discovered this fairly odd because it encourages customers to go away Mojeek for opponents.
• Since Mojeek isn’t absolutely ad-free, I don’t suppose it’s as spectacular an choice as Kagi.

Pricing

Finest Search Engines for Excessive-High quality Solutions

3. Perplexity

Perplexity is an AI search engine that collects, analyzes, and deconstructs data from varied sources to offer a high-quality, human-like response to any query or immediate. It’s greater than a daily search engine as its AI energy means you don’t must scroll by and skim varied hyperlinks to solutions.

Perplexity combines the communication and synthesis talents of a chatbot like ChatGPT with a search engine’s net crawling and information-gathering capabilities to offer exact and detailed responses to any immediate.

What makes it a robust Google different is that it, too, doesn’t depend on an innate data base however can shortly scour the web for related, associated sources to tug collectively its findings.

What I Like

• The interface is harking back to ChatGPT, which is a plus for customers like me who’ve already mastered ChatGPT.
• Regardless of being an AI search engine, in contrast to another Google alternate options on this checklist, Perplexity does promise correct solutions. It cites sources on the high of every reply and all through its copy, so I can evaluate the supply materials myself.
• In comparison with common serps, Perplexity saves me a lot time. It’s far more environment friendly to obtain an easy reply moderately than clicking by a number of doubtlessly helpful hyperlinks on Google.
• Since Perplexity is AI-powered, it comprehends my questions and prompts — even when misspelled or grammatically incorrect — rather more simply than Google, which commonly must ask me “Did you imply…?”
• Perplexity is at present ad-free. Whereas it has plans to introduce advertisements sooner or later, it intends to integrate native ads into its “Associated Questions” part in a way that doesn’t disrupt the pure consumer expertise.

What I Don’t Like

• Among the smarter AI capabilities are solely obtainable for Perplexity Professional customers.

Pricing

• Commonplace plan: Free
• Skilled plan: $20/month

4. Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha is a search engine that makes a speciality of computational data. It could actually present very detailed responses to questions associated to information, math, sciences, and different factual matters. As an illustration, I chosen the subject “Meals & Diet,” as seen beneath.

As you may see, this highly effective engine can entry very particular, detailed details about all kinds of matters. There’s data on this search engine that I by no means would have even thought to seek for.

Since this search engine is so clever, I did strive looking some fundamental inquiries to see how it could deal with them. First up, I checked the common lease in New York Metropolis.

Subsequent, I attempted a extra area of interest query that I felt was nonetheless computational:

Lastly, I attempted one thing I’d mostly lookup on a search engine like Google, however was left empty-handed:

What I Like

• Wolfram Alpha actually has high-quality solutions and a variety of forms of solutions. As an illustration, for “Transportation” I used to be capable of finding out complete street lengths in any given nation, gasoline worth information, varied computations on airways, information on any area’s railroad programs, and rather more.
• I may select from a set checklist of matters once I wasn’t certain what to seek for, which helped me hone in on a matter and use the pre-chosen examples to information my search.
• This search engine can be particularly useful for college students, professors, and researchers who must be taught a number of details about a really particular topic.

What I Don’t Like

• As a daily shopper, this search engine doesn’t present the solutions I may have each day. It was unable to understand most of my fundamental queries, that are the forms of train-of-thought questions I might usually seek for on every other search engine.
• It has an outdated look together with some blurry visuals.

Pricing

• Fundamental plan: Free
• Professional plan: $5/month (Consists of step-by-step options, elevated computation time, and calculator Net Apps)
• Professional Premium plan: $8.25/month (All options, together with precedence buyer assist)

Finest Search Engines for Privateness

5. Startpage

Startpage is exclusive as a result of it doesn’t have its personal index of internet sites or net crawler. As a substitute, it acts as a intermediary between customers and different serps like Google.

The way it works is that it submits your query in your behalf to different serps, with the intention to defend your anonymity. Subsequently, you’ll obtain Google and Bing search outcomes whereas sustaining your privateness from the info monitoring practices from which these serps revenue.

It’s principally the equal of looking in “incognito mode,” however with out the trouble of getting to recollect to modify that mode on.

What I Like

• Startpage has a really intelligent privateness mannequin that helps it assure no cookies, trackers, web site fingerprinting, worth monitoring or optimization, or social media monitoring.
• For customers who’re having a tough time letting Google go, however need elevated privateness, that is the proper choice. You’re nonetheless getting the identical search outcomes as you’ll on Google or Bing whereas having Startpage carry out the trying to find you as a useful assistant.
• The interface is trendy, glossy, and extra engaging than different serps I reviewed.

What I Don’t Like

• In case you’re trying to change away from Google for every other motive moreover privateness issues, this might not be the choice for you, because it’s principally the identical platform and search outcomes as Google.

Pricing

6. Brave Search

Courageous Search boasts safety and privateness whereas searching the web, which it manages to do by not monitoring customers or any of their searches. Courageous Search can’t share or promote private information as a result of it by no means will get collected within the first place.

That is useful for individuals who work from public computer systems or networks. It may also be engaging to these inquisitive about each privateness and AI, because the platform launched Answer with AI earlier this 12 months. This function has shortly change into one of many largest AI options.

What I Like

• Courageous Search has a normal look much like different search engine choices on this checklist and main ones like Google.
• It prioritizes privateness with a fail-proof technique that enables for full consumer safety whereas nonetheless utilizing its personal impartial net crawler and index.
• The AI assistant, when in a position for use, could be very clever and good at summarizing the numerous search outcomes right into a cohesive response.
• Whereas Courageous Search does assist paid advertisements, it ensures that the advertisements are designed to be nameless and that the platform gained’t report any consumer information if customers view or click on on the advertisements.

What I Don’t Like

• Reply with AI is just not obtainable for all queries, which was a bit disappointing for me. As an illustration, I searched “greatest giant, leak-free water bottles” and was instructed that AI was “unavailable for this question.” This may additionally discourage others who count on an AI assistant to all the time be efficient.

Pricing

• Commonplace plan: Free
• Premium plan: $3/month (Advert-free search outcomes)

Finest Search Engines With Particular Options

7. OceanHero

OceanHero is an unbelievable search engine with an environmental goal. It generates income by search advertisements and donates the proceeds to organizations like PlasticBank who’re devoted to gathering plastic to scrub up oceans.

OceanHero turns looking right into a problem. You’ll be able to work in direction of incomes as many shells as attainable. When you’ve collected 100 shells, your bottle counter will increase by one to disclose what number of ocean-bound plastic bottles you’ve helped rescue.

On common, 5 searches or 17 new tabs within the browser extension contribute to recovering one plastic bottle.

First, I had so as to add OceanHero as a Google Chrome extension.

Then, I adopted the directions to start utilizing OceanHero as my main search engine.

What I Like

• Since OceanHero will get added as a Google Chrome extension, it’s probably the most pure Google different. I can search queries instantly in my Chrome search bar, and my searching expertise doesn’t change in any respect. My searches simply get entered by OceanHero, moderately than Google, making it a seamless transition.
• OceanHero has such an vital goal that may be a pleasure to be part of. I’m going to be looking varied questions and prompts day by day anyway, so I could as effectively contribute to some optimistic change whereas doing so!
• The concept of creating ocean plastic discount right into a sport by having customers acquire shells and bottles provides a enjoyable, aggressive edge to this search engine.

What I Don’t Like

• Having so as to add OceanHero as a browser extension could deter some people from desirous to undertake it.
• Aside from its sturdy environmental mission, OceanHero nearly precisely resembles the Google looking expertise, for higher or for worse.

Pricing

8. Swisscows

Swisscows is exclusive in that it boasts family-friendly content material, so customers can really feel assured in permitting their youngsters to make use of the search engine freely. As well as, this search engine has a charitable edge.

The guts icon on the high of the browser retains monitor of a consumer’s variety of searches. The search engine states that, on common, 50 searches assist finance a meal for a kid. You’ll be able to learn extra about Swisscows’ social initiatives, affect, and donation alternatives here.

What I Like

• I initially anticipated Swisscows to have a kiddish look resulting from being family-friendly, but it surely appears like every other search engine on this checklist. This makes it extra interesting for adults who need to use this platform in addition to their youngsters.
• The social affect of Swisscows makes it a no brainer to make use of. I get to go looking my quite a few queries day by day and know these random searches contribute to vital social causes benefiting youngsters.
• The search outcomes are organized cleanly, with an icon picture to the left of the headline, a few traces of description, and, beneath that, a shortened URL, put up date, and the flexibility to open up an nameless preview with an AI-based description. This format is in contrast to every other I’ve seen and gives you with as a lot data upfront as attainable.

What I Don’t Like

• I discovered this to be one of many slower web page load occasions of the major search engines I examined.
• In case you additionally need an ad-free expertise, this search engine does, sadly, embrace advertisements.
• I additionally discovered that the “Advert” labels are small and on the backside of every hyperlink, moderately than on the high like with Google, which might be deceptive.

Pricing

6 Suggestions for Succeeding Off Google Search as a Model

Whereas I’ve gone over the professionals and cons of utilizing these eight serps as a shopper, it’s equally vital to understand how greatest to function them as a model.

Learn on for a few of my recommendations on efficiently optimizing for these Google alternate options.

1. Produce high-quality, participating content material.

It might appear apparent, however crucial a part of your search engine technique ought to be creating content worthy of a search. In such a crowded market, with customers having to resolve between dozens of sources with near-identical data, it’s tough to face out with out quality content.

Make use of SEO (SEO) to make sure you’re creating content material round matters that customers are inquisitive about. And, whereas it’s vital to include these key phrases, make certain the language in your web sites, weblog posts, or different platforms feels genuine and pure.

As an illustration, once I write my HubSpot weblog posts, I combine my opinions and expertise, whereas nonetheless hitting key phrases, which leads to personalised and helpful content material. I additionally all the time write in my pure tone of voice to sound like my genuine self and never a robotic.

2. Diversify your key phrase technique.

Talking of keywords, it’s vital to broaden the forms of key phrases referenced in your content material. Whereas it’s simpler to plug single-word key phrases into any piece of content material, it may be extra worthwhile to include longer phrases.

Long-tail keywords are usually three or extra phrases and have decrease search volumes. Nevertheless, they make up a bigger share of searches when mixed and usually tend to end in conversions, for the reason that key phrases are so particular.

3. Enhance your search rating with backlinks.

Backlinks are created when one other web site hyperlinks to your web site. For example, this is now a backlink for Backlinko.

Backlinks are vital as they will present customers that your content material is respected. The easiest way to get backlinks is by giving them again to different trusted sources. Construct vital partnerships with manufacturers for a mutually useful relationship.

4. Replace your net expertise.

As seen on this put up, every search engine has a special look and format. This may affect how your content material reveals up in customers’ search outcomes. Subsequently, when focusing on a brand new search engine, you have to replace your content material’s net expertise.

As an illustration, some serps like Kagi present the date of publication upfront in search outcomes, which inspires me to refresh my content material commonly so it seems latest and dependable.

Different serps like Swisscows embrace a photograph icon in search outcomes, so I might need to affirm I’ve a high-quality, clear, related picture chosen alongside the URL.

5. Contemplate related, area of interest serps.

I discussed that there are serps with particular options and functions, like OceanHero and Swisscows. It may be to your profit to incorporate serps in your technique if their niches align together with your model’s area of interest.

I work at Nickelodeon, so I’d assume our crew has optimized our content material for family-friendly serps like Swisscows. If I have been to work at a nonprofit or AI firm, I’d equally need to embrace serps in these niches in my technique.

6. Keep up-to-date on search engine modifications.

Whereas Google was not the primary search engine, it was an early contender and distinctive as a result of its founders, two PhD college students from Stanford College, developed PageRank, an algorithm that listed websites so as of the variety of hyperlinks to them.

Since then, dozens of recent serps have emerged with totally different focuses, algorithms, and options to issues. It’s crucial, as a model proprietor, to remain on high of this ever-changing panorama and accordingly replace your search engine optimisation technique.

In any case, Google introduced its first AI system, RankBrain, in 2015. Lower than ten years later, there are numerous AI serps and commonplace serps with AI capabilities. Having an eye fixed on tendencies and bettering consumer expertise will all the time be a necessity.

The Seek for a New Search Engine

When diving into this put up, I used to be conscious of a few of these non-Google serps, however my thoughts is actually blown at what number of choices there are.

Whereas Google nonetheless has greater than 90% market share, different serps can present distinctive, individualized experiences for these keen to offer them an opportunity.

Specifically, my favorites from this checklist are Perplexity, which I’ve already built-in into my routine, and OceanHero.

I believe each present how serps can take the widespread human motion of looking queries and take that to the subsequent degree to enhance customers’ lives or the better world.

Google could appear to be the simple, apparent alternative, however there may be a number of worth in incorporating a few of these different serps to raised optimize your content material for search.