The 2020 market shares of search engines in France and around the world

If Google has a large dominant position in France, what about its real market share in 2020? Do the new alternative search engines manage to make a place for themselves in the face of the historical behemoth? In this article, we provide a brief overview of the current state of the market in France and then in a few countries around the world where Google is being challenged.

When you are considering international development, it is very important to consult the market shares of search engines in the target country to know which SEO strategy to adopt first (search engine positioning factors, although often close, are never exactly the same). Here we will present the market shares of search engines in France and then those of some markets where Google is either challenged or overtaken.

SEARCH ENGINE MARKET SHARE IN 2020: WHERE DO WE STAND IN FRANCE?

Overview of search engine market shares in France in March 2020

Compared to 2019, Google has lost some market share in March 2020 but remains the undisputed leader by taking over 92% of searches made by French internet users. Bing and the eco-responsible search engine Ecosia are the two main winners this year with an interesting progression of their market shares. Ecosia has entered the top 6 of the most used search engines in France this year with a market share of 1.23%. Qwant, the French search engine which presents itself as a more respectful alternative to Google for the personal data of Internet users, has seen its market share stagnate compared to the previous year (0.78% vs. 0.74%).

SEARCH ENGINE MARKET SHARE IN FRANCE IN 2019

The search engine market shares in France in July 2019

In France, Google continues to dominate the market in July 2019 with over 94% market share when Qwant, the French alternative to Google starts to nibble some market shares to reach nearly 0.8% market share in France behind Bing (3.03%) / Yahoo (1.37%) and ahead of DuckDuckGo with only 0.42% market share

SEARCH ENGINE MARKET SHARE IN FRANCE IN 2018

In France, Google has gained a +3 point market share in 2018 since 2017. The competition is getting organised and is grabbing a few small market shares, like Qwant, Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo, which however together represent less than 6% of the search market share in France.

WHAT IS GOOGLE’S MARKET SHARE IN THE WORLD IN 2020?

Overview of search engine market shares in the world in March 2020

Compared to 2018, the 2020 search engine market shares are globally quite stable even if Google has lost a few shares to Bing, Baidu and Yandex.

WHAT IS GOOGLE’S MARKET SHARE IN THE WORLD IN 2018?

Here is an overview of search engine market shares around the world. Google is still well ahead!
Of course, on a global scale, Google remains number 1.

IN THE UNITED STATES

However, its dominant position is becoming less distinct in many markets, including its historical market, the United States:

In the United States, Yahoo and Bing outshine Google more than in France or Europe

IN SOUTH KOREA AND CHINA

In some Asian countries such as South Korea or China, Google is also widely challenged:

In South Korea, the historic browser Naver is resisting the Google behemoth

Google has been censored in China for a long time and logically has only a very small market share there. This market is all the more difficult for SEOs as many search engines are battling it out despite a dominant position held by Baidu.

IN RUSSIA

In Russia, Yandex remains the market leader with more than 50% market share, ahead of Google.

SEARCH ENGINE MARKET SHARES IN FRANCE IN 2017: GOOGLE WAS ALREADY WELL AHEAD

The search engine market shares in France in May 2017
While there are many alternatives to Google, these were still not widely used in France in 2017. For example, Qwant did not even appear in the ranking.
Here is the state of search engine market shares in France in May 2017:

• Google : 90,63%
• Bing : 5,2%
• Yahoo : 2,52%
• MSN : 0,96%
• DuckDuckGo : 0,57%
• Yandex Ru : 0,04%
• Others (Qwant, Ecosia, …) : 0,08%

By studying the curve of the evolution of the search engine market shares over the last 12 months, we noticed that Google was slowly but surely losing market shares to search engines like Bing in particular (Windows 10 and the new Edge browser were surely not for nothing).

The evolution of search engine market shares in France between May 2016 and May 2017

IN WHICH COUNTRIES IS GOOGLE NOT THE UNDISPUTED LEADER OF SEARCH ENGINES?

In some markets, Google is sometimes challenged, battered or even far from being the preferred search engine to the vast majority. This is particularly the case in:

• United States
• Russia
• China
• South Korea
• Czech Republic

SEARCH ENGINE MARKET SHARES IN THE UNITED STATES (USA) IN 2017

 

In the United States, Google is slightly less of a leader than in France with Bing and Yahoo nibbling increasingly more market share.

SEARCH ENGINE MARKET SHARES IN RUSSIA IN 2017

With only 49.97% market share in Russia, Google is far from unanimous. The Russian search engine Yandex is on its heels with a little over 45% of the search market share.

SEARCH ENGINE MARKET SHARES IN CHINA IN 2017

In China, Google is not only outdated, it is being overwritten. Baidu is the preferred search engine of the Chinese with more than 78% market share ahead of Shenma (8.18%), Haosou (7.99%) and Soguo Search (1.81%). Google is only in 5th position with less than 2% of the market share there.

Source: https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share