June 14th, 2010 by Nick

There is sometimes debate in SEO circles about what strategy focus points should be, for sites to do well in search engine results pages of different search engines. Some people become tired of trying to satisfy Google’s web crawlers, and periodically talk up the prospects of a potential competitor. For example, Bing has been attracting a bit of attention. The search engine which pleases its users most will tend to do best. Google has a very impressive market share, and has maintained its rule in the sector for several years. One way of assessing the likelihood of the situation changing, is to investigate how various search engines cope with long tail searches.

As time passes, most users are becoming more specific in what they want. Instead of blocks of data relevant to a topic, they want the most relevant information to a detailed query. Furthermore, they desire to get hold of this relevant information with speed. If they have to type in several different searches, or if they are obliged to go down the rankings, some users get frustrated. It is amazing how quickly many people have taken the net for granted. It is also worth noting how research shows that attention spans are in decline. The following test is sometimes instructive:

• Think of some information or product detail that you would like to know more about
• Ensure that what you want is specific and can be expressed in long tail format
• Type the query into Google, Bing and Yahoo. Observe how they fare
• Think of another precise thing you want to know and repeat the procedure
• Do this until you are satisfied that you have detected a pattern

Many people who have done this test believe that Google satisfies their needs better than any other search engine. It is also worth recalling that Google has the advantage of being ahead of its competitors. When many people think of a search engine, they think Google. Therefore, even if it performs to the same level as its competitors, it has every chance now of remaining ahead of them. Added to this must be that Google has built up a positive corporate image over the years. In one article, Matt Cutts of Google has had the confidence to link directly to the sites of Google’s critics. This is extremely astute public relations.

At Searchengineoptimization.co.uk, we are quite clear about which search engine to base our strategies around. We do not ignore other search engines, and are aware that nothing in the complex sphere of search can be taken for granted in the long run. However, the present situation seems quite clear.

As long tail queries become more important over time, the major search engines, other than Google, will do their utmost to catch up. However, it seems that Google has the people, and the foresight, to remain the number one search engine for some time. This may not be true in every part of the world, but local/regional/national difference is the exception, rather than the rule.

Link to us

If you want to link to this blog, copy and paste the following HTML code to your website.