Search Engine Optimisation with Google, Yahoo and MSN

Surveys have shown Google is by far the biggest player in the search engine market (70 to 80% of users prefer Google). Yahoo! follows in second place (10 to 20%) and MSN comes in last (5%). For more detailed information see Market Share Website

As well as Google, Yahoo! and MSN there are a number of smaller players including AOL and Ask. However, due to their small size it is not really worth spending your time and money on them. Owing to Google’s dominance in the market you are better off focusing your attention on them first. In terms of ranking, however, there is very little difference between Google, Yahoo! and MSN. Having said that, Google does face strong competition in other parts of the world, particularly in China with its own search engine called Baidu. Google has made great efforts to produce localised results for users in almost every country around the world.

One thing all search engines have in common is the need to increase their ad revenue, and they do this by developing a loyal audience for their search engines and toolbars. This can only happen of course if they deliver high quality results. Another issue they have to deal with is spam, and in fact the search engines work together to try and tackle the problems of spam and low quality websites which offer no value to users. You can use Google’s Webmaster area to keep you updated on the latest news in relation to spam. It also provides guidelines on what is and what isn’t considered to be spam.

You need to plan your SEO strategy in order to for it to work across all the search engines. In particular, you need to make sure you don’t go against their guidelines and even more importantly that you deliver a high quality website.