As of March 2025, Google represented 79.1 percent of the global online search engine market on desktop devices. Despite being much ahead of its competitors, this represents the lowest share ever recorded by the search engine in these devices for over two decades. Meanwhile, its long-time competitor Bing accounted for 12.21 percent, as tools like Yahoo and Yandex held shares of over 2.9 percent each. 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 2.02 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 348.16 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 63 percent of internet users in Russia used Yandex, whereas Google users represented little over 33 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 21 percent of users in Mexico said they used Yahoo.

In January 2025, Google remained by far the most popular search engine in the UK, holding a market share of ***** percent across all devices. That month, Bing had a market share of approximately **** percent in second place, followed by Yahoo! with approximately **** percent. The EU vs Google Despite Google’s dominance of the search engine market, maintaining its position at the top has not been a smooth ride. Google’s market share saw a decline in the summer of 2018, plummeting to an all-time-low in July. The search engine experienced a similar dip in June and July 2017. These two low points coincided with the European Commission’s antitrust charges against the company, both of which were unprecedented in the now decade-long duel between both parties. As skepticism towards search engine platforms grows in line with public concern regarding censorship and data privacy, alternative services like Duckduckgo offer users both information protection and unfiltered results. Despite this, it still held less than *** percent of the industry’s market share as of June 2021. Perception of fake news in the UK According to a questionnaire conducted in the United Kingdom in 2018, **** percent of respondents had come across inaccurate news on social media at least once before. Rising concerns over fake news, or information which has been manipulated to influence the public has been a hot topic in recent years. The younger generation however, remains skeptical with nearly **** of Generation Z claiming to be either unconcerned about fake news, or believed that it did not exist altogether.

In November 2021, Google had the highest market share of all search engines in Australia, accounting for almost ** percent of web traffic referred by search engines. Bing followed as the second most popular search engine with a **** percent market share that month.

In April 2025, Google accounted for ***** percent of the search market in the United States across all devices. Bing followed as the second leading search provider in the United States during the last examined month, with a share of around *** percent, among the engine's highest quotas registered in the country to date.

Much like the alternatives to mainstream social media platforms, China has pioneered the production of search engines that provide an alternative to Google and Bing. Some of the most prominent Chinese search engines are ***** and ************************, with a combined market share of ** percent. Baidu – China’s internet giant Since its founding in 2000, Baidu’s revenue surged swiftly and totaled about ****** billion yuan in 2024. A majority of the revenue was generated through online marketing services. However, the operating profit bounced back after having contracted in 2019 and 2021. Baidu used to control about ** to ** percent of China’s online search market, a new contender Haosou emerged and is expected to close the gap shortly. Other search engines in China In a country with around *** million online search users, there are multiple local options besides Baidu. In a 2023 consumer survey in China, Shenma and Quark Search were rated the best in user experience whereas Haosou or 360 Search led the pack in search response speed and the diversity in search results.

As of March 2025, Google continued to dominate the global search engine industry by far, with an 89.62 percent market share. However, this stronghold may be showing signs of erosion, with its share across all devices dipping to its lowest point in over two decades. Bing, Google's closest competitor, currently holds a market share of 4.01 percent across, while Russia-based Yandex hikes to the third place with a share of around 2.51 percent. Competitive landscape and regional variations While Google's overall dominance persists, other search engines carve out niches in various markets and platforms. Bing holds a 12.21 percent market share across desktop devices worldwide, as Yandex and Baidu have found success inside and outside of their home markets. Yandex is used by over 63 percent of Russian internet users, but Baidu has seen its market share significantly in China As regional variations highlight the importance of local players in challenging Google's global supremacy, the company is likely to face more challenges with the AI-powered online search trend and increasing regulatory scrutiny. Search behavior and antitrust concerns Despite facing more competition, Google remains deeply ingrained in users' online habits. In 2024, "Google" itself was the most popular search query on its own platform, followed by "YouTube" - another Google-owned property. This self-reinforcing ecosystem has drawn scrutiny from regulators, with the European Commission imposing millionaire antitrust fines on the company. As its influence extends beyond search into various online services, the company's market position continues to be a subject of debate among industry watchdogs and authorities worldwide.

Amazon is the most used search engine in France when it comes for shopping inspiration. During a survey carried out in early 2021, ** percent of responding online buyers said they used Amazon for such purposes; among regular online buyers, the share stood at ** percent. Google ranked second, with ** percent and ** percent, respectively.

The market share of the most used search engines in France in May 2021, ranked by type of device is represented in this statistic. Google dominated the market share on all devices by almost ** percent and was the forerunner on mobile devices by around ** percent. The Microsoft product Bing came in second with **** percent market shares in France, with the most desktop usage of more than **** percent. Yahoo! remained above the **** percent share on desktop usage.

In April 2024, Google was the most popular search engine in the UK, holding a market share of ***** percent across all devices. Bing had a relatively large market share of approximately **** percent in second place, followed by Yahoo! with approximately **** percent.

In 2021, approximately ************** of consumers in Germany, France, the United States, and the United Kingdom (UK) stated they used Google when looking for local business information, making it the most commonly used and by far the most dominant search engine for this purpose. There were, however, many other search engine platforms frequently used by consumers including Apple Maps, Yahoo, Tripadvisor, as well as other content-specific websites and apps.

In April 2025, Google accounted for over ** percent of the mobile search market in the United States. With approximately ** percent reach among mobile audiences, Google Search is also one of the most popular mobile apps in the United States. DuckDuckGo and Yahoo! followed as the leading mobile search providers in the United States during the last examined month, with shares of around *** percent each.

A 2021 survey found that over ** percent of Chinese consumers relied on search engines to obtain information on food and nutrition. Topics related to automobiles, travel, and home upgrades were also commonly searched among the Chinese respondents.

In 2024, the most used search engine in South Korea was Naver, with a share of around ** percent of monthly active users. Naver is a South Korean online platform and search engine which is operated by Naver Corporation. Despite the domestic website being popular among users, Google took first spot as the market leader in the South Korean search engine market. Online search behavior Naver was still the first place to go for South Koreans looking up information on the web.The most successful search engine visit category in South Korea was related to studying, averaging over ********** of visits. At the same time, search engine results of the IT category had the highest bounce rate. Online education, on the other hand, had a rather low bounce rate, indicating that users were more satisfied with the shown search results. Internet usage in South Korea The significant majority of South Koreans used the internet, maintaining an internet usage rate of well over ** percent for years. Reasons for using the internet in South Korea are countless, as it has seeped into every facet of life. Nevertheless, the most commonly named reasons for going online were communication purposes and looking for information. Using the internet for multiple reasons, South Koreans spend on average more than ** hours per week online.

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 May 2025, Google was the leading search engine in Taiwan, dominating the market with an overwhelming share of about 80.18 percent across all devices. Its popularity among mobile phone users was even higher, taking 87.63 percent of the search engine market in the same period.

According to a survey conducted in South Korea in early 2021, ** percent of male respondents trusted news they found on search engines. Women tended to trust news provided by search engines less, with only ** percent of female respondents doing so. In South Korea, Naver and Google were the most used search engines in 2020.

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.

This statistic shows the market share of search engines on tablets in the Netherlands as of 2021. In this year, Google was the most popular search engine on tablets in the Netherlands, with the highest market share of ** percent. Other domains, such as DuckDuckGo, Yahoo and bing, also attracted traffic. DuckDuckGo, a search engine which aims to protect searchers' privacy, reached a market share of **** percent.

Google was by far the most used search engine in Germany, holding a market share of ***** percent in May 2025. Bing ranked second, with a market share of approximately **** percent in the same month, followed by Yandex, DuckDuckGo, and Yahoo!, with shares of **** percent, **** percent and **** percent.

Yandex was the leading search engine in Russia in the second quarter of 2025, having accounted for roughly ********** of total user visits over that period. The second-most visited search engine in the country was Google, whose share of visits decreased slightly from the previous quarter. Yandex search usage in Russia Despite the global dominance of Google as a primary search engine, Russian consumers give their preference to homegrown Yandex and Mail.ru. Furthermore, Yandex is the most popular search engine for news reading, as well as the most-visited online resource in the country, with a reach of over ** percent. Besides the search engine, Yandex offers a wide range of online services, such as food delivery, maps, and a voice assistant. Mail.ru and Rambler search engines The third-most visited search engine, Mail.ru, belonged to the VK Group, one of the most expensive internet companies operating in Russia, whose value was measured at *** million U.S. dollars in 2025. Rambler, launched in 1996, saw a decline in usage compared to the 2000s. It was a part of the Rambler Group, which consisted of several media organizations, including the online video service Okko and news services Lenta.ru and Rambler News Service. The corporation Sber acquired the group in 2020.