Alternative search engine DuckDuckGo's worldwide market share has steadily increased from July 2019 to January 2025 – the largest surge being in the United States, which surpassed the search engine’s growth in all other regions. Here, an increased uptake began roughly around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, continuing in the months leading up to the US elections and beyond, but later running a bit lower than three percent in since January 2023. Ecosia - the more popular alternative in Europe While Google is still the market leader by a long shot when it comes to search engines in the United States - where DuckDuckGo is also based, consumer trust in big tech has been waning and more are seeking out privacy-based alternatives. In Europe, Ecosia is the more popular option and has seen steady growth particularly in Germany and France. Despite not having privacy as its main selling point, the German-based company invests its profits into tree-planting and reforestation projects. Americans’ waning trust in the government The onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic caught most governments off-guard, invoking a host of different responses and approaches across the globe. In the United States, overall trust in the government to deal appropriately with the pandemic fell by approximately 20 percent in the period between February 2020 and January 2021. In fact, among the various institutions of authority, Americans had the least trust in the government – even less than that towards the European Union. Conversely, the United Nations commanded the most public trust. As the COVID vaccination rollout continues across the country, young Americans aged 18 to 24 are also the most skeptical when it comes to the idea of vaccination passports for travel, with approximately 41 percent in support of the measure.

As of October 2025, Google represented ***** percent of the global online search engine referrals on desktop devices. Despite being much ahead of its competitors, this represents a modest increase from the previous months. Meanwhile, its longtime competitor Bing accounted for ***** percent, as tools like Yahoo and Yandex held shares of over **** percent and **** percent respectively. Google and the global search market Ever since the introduction of Google Search in 1997, the company has dominated the search engine market, while the shares of all other tools has been rather lopsided. The majority of Google revenues are generated through advertising. Its parent corporation, Alphabet, was one of the biggest internet companies worldwide as of 2024, with a market capitalization of **** trillion U.S. dollars. The company has also expanded its services to mail, productivity tools, enterprise products, mobile devices, and other ventures. As a result, Google earned one of the highest tech company revenues in 2024 with roughly ****** billion U.S. dollars. Search engine usage in different countries Google is the most frequently used search engine worldwide. But in some countries, its alternatives are leading or competing with it to some extent. As of the last quarter of 2023, more than ** percent of internet users in Russia used Yandex, whereas Google users represented little over ** percent. Meanwhile, Baidu was the most used search engine in China, despite a strong decrease in the percentage of internet users in the country accessing it. In other countries, like Japan and Mexico, people tend to use Yahoo along with Google. By the end of 2024, nearly half of the respondents in Japan said that they had used Yahoo in the past four weeks. In the same year, over ** percent of users in Mexico said they used Yahoo.

Discover the booming market for privacy-focused search engines. Learn about key drivers, trends, and leading companies shaping this $500M+ market (2025 est.) experiencing rapid growth. Explore data privacy, encrypted search, and secure browsing trends.

Market Analysis: Non-Tracking Search The global non-tracking search market is projected to reach USD XXX million by 2033, exhibiting a CAGR of XX% during the forecast period 2025-2033. The growing privacy concerns among internet users and the increasing adoption of mobile devices are driving the growth of this market. Search engines that prioritize user privacy, such as DuckDuckGo and Qwant, are gaining popularity as consumers become more aware of the data collection practices of traditional search engines. Additionally, the rise of decentralized and blockchain-based search technologies is further fueling market growth. Key market segments include the search engine and meta search types, as well as applications in social media, advertising, and other sectors. Geographically, North America and Europe are the largest markets for non-tracking search, followed by Asia Pacific and the Middle East & Africa. Key players in the industry include Qwant, DuckDuckGo, Startpage, and WolframAlpha. The market is expected to face challenges such as the limited availability of data for personalized search results and the potential for privacy concerns to shift to alternative technologies. However, the increasing regulatory focus on data protection and the growing demand for user-centric search experiences are expected to support the long-term growth of the non-tracking search market.

Based on a survey conducted in 2019 among internet users in the United States, the majority of adults (36 percent) admitted they would switch search engines if it meant getting better quality results. Furthermore, 33.7 percent stated that knowing their data was not being collected by a platform would also encourage them to make the switch. Other factors listed included 'having fewer ads' and a well designed interface. Overall, there was a noticeable lean toward search result quality and data privacy when it came to search engine selection.

Google leads despite user preference for increased privacy

Despite a strong consumer call for data protection, Google topped the list when it came to search engines with 93 percent of Americans surveyed reporting to having used the popular search giant at some point during the past 4 weeks. In comparison, the second most popular platform Yahoo! had only been used by 31 percent of those surveyed. Meanwhile DuckDuckGo, the search engine most known for protecting user data and search history had only been used by 8 percent. Mobile search figures lean even more in Google's favor. Here, a similar share (93 percent) of the market as of January 2021 belonged to Google, while approximately 3 percent was held by DuckDuckGo.

Growth expected for search advertising

With search engines playing a significant role in internet use be it on desktop or mobile, companies and search platforms alike are seeing an increased opportunity in the field of search engine advertising. Nationwide spend in the industry reached an impressive 58.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, and was forecast to further rise to 66.2 billion within the following year.

As of February 2025, several search terms were googled especially actively by German internet users. Among these, the leading three were ‘handball wm’ (handball championship), ‘australian open 2025’ and ‘handball wm 2025’. The terms reflect events, certain dates and ensuing media coverage taking place at the time, in this case about the handball championship and the Australian Open tennis tournament. Always searching Daily life seems unthinkable without using an online search engine, whether for longer research or quickly checking something, or even just to avoid setting bookmarks, typing in URLs. Google has by far the highest share among online search engines used on desktop and mobile devices at almost 90 percent of searches done on Google, followed by Bing and Ecosia. While DuckDuckGo was further down on the list, its market share has been rising in Germany. Google may still have a substantial head start compared to its competitors, but users are increasingly apprehensive about data privacy and protection in connection with how the online search giant uses and stores personal information, as well as tracks search queries. Searching for Trees Ecosia is an environmentally friendly search engine with a unique business model that sets it apart from other search engines. It uses the revenue from search ads to plant trees worldwide and support reforestation projects. Every time a user performs a search on Ecosia, they indirectly contribute to reforestation, as one tree is planted for every 45 searches.The search engine market share held by Ecosia has been growing in recent years, especially in Germany where the company is based, and in other countries in Europe. Ecosia, similarly to other alternative search engines (e.g. DuckDuckGo), uses Bing to power its results.

In the fiscal year that ended December 31, 2023, Google UK Limited reported tax expenses of 128.56 million British pounds. In its previous financial year, the British subsidiary reported around 59.13 million British pounds in tax charges, little less than half of the latest announced values. Google Ads is Alphabet's main source of revenue Alphabet, Google's parent company, has seen an increase in global revenue each year since 2017. By 2024, this had reached a total of 348.16 billion U.S. dollars, with the majority of profit being made through Google advertising. Through its in-house advertising platform Google Ads, Google enables advertisers to bid for advertising spots on its search engine and apps. A closer look at the brand's year-on-year advertising revenue shows that it has been in constant growth since 2001, and is likely to remain on this upward trajectory. Global alternatives to Google Search The recent tech boom has also raised concerns regarding privacy and data collection, with an increasing number of internet users opting for alternative search engines, messaging apps and email services. DuckDuckGo and Ecosia are two search engine alternatives that have come to light in recent years for their focus on user privacy. The former in particular has seen an increased uptake in the United States since mid 2020. While Google still dominates globally, Microsoft's Bing and Yahoo! Search have consistently held their share of the market over the last ten years and remain longest-standing alternatives to Google Search.