The internet has become an integral part of our lives, and for many people, it’s their main source of information. Search engines are the gateway to finding information on the web, so it’s no surprise that they’re some of the most popular sites on the web. Here’s a look at how some of the top search engines stack up in terms of global usage: Most Popular Search Engines in the World – 2025
1# Google
Google is the most popular search engine in the world. It has over 70% of global search usage and is also one of the top 10 most visited websites in every country except for China, where it’s number eight.
Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998 as a research project called BackRub at Stanford University, before becoming a commercial venture called “BackRub Technology Group.” The company changed its name to Google Incorporated on September 6th 2002 after completing its IPO (Initial Public Offering).
2# Bing
Bing is owned by Microsoft, and as such it has a strong presence on the web. It’s also known for its image search features, which let you find photos based on keywords or specific tags. In addition to serving up images from Bing itself, this feature can pull results from other sites like Google Images or Flickr (if you’ve set up permission).
Bing’s video search capabilities are quite impressive as well; if your goal is to find something related to videos online (like “How To” videos), then Bing will probably be able to help you out with that!
3# Baidu
Baidu is the largest search engine in China. It has over 300 million users, and it’s also the first Chinese company to enter the U.S. market and become publicly traded on NASDAQ.
Baidu was founded by Robin Li, who came up with an innovation called “Spider” which was designed to crawl through web pages and store information about them for future use by other programs like Google or Yahoo! Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The result was a huge boom for Baidu: within just two years after its debut, this new technology had helped boost traffic from millions toward billions per year!
The company headquarters is located in Beijing but most of its employees work remotely across offices around the world—including Los Angeles where they have quite a few employees working on content creation projects related specifically towards English speakers living outside their native country’s borders such as myself (you can check out more info here if interested).
4# Yahoo!
Yahoo! Search is the most popular search engine in Japan and is also the fourth-most used in the world. It was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo on May 12, 1994, with their first website being a BBS (Bulletin Board System) called “Jerry’s Home Page”. Yahoo!’s original name was “Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web”; it was renamed to Yahoo! in 1995 when it became an Internet service provider.
At its peak in 2006, Yahoo had over 70 million unique visitors per month. In 2007, however, as Google moved away from web portals and began focusing on mobile devices instead of desktop computers or laptops; as well as Facebook becoming more popular than any other social media platform; several former employees left Yahoo! Incorporated after filing lawsuits against them alleging unfair dismissal under California state law .
5# Yandex
Yandex is a Russian search engine that was founded in 1997. It has a market share of over 60% in Russia, with over 70% of all searches made on the platform being conducted from inside the country.
Yandex also has an active presence in Turkey and Ukraine along with other countries where Russian citizens reside or travel often. The company’s popularity is high enough for them to be considered one of the top three search engines globally (alongside Google and Baidu).
6# Yandex.ru
Yandex.ru is a Russian search engine that is widely used in Russia. It’s the most popular search engine in Russia, and it also has a large presence outside of the country—the second largest in Europe after Google.
Yandex claims to have over 60% market share in Russia, which makes it one of the most dominant players on the Internet today. The company was founded by Evgeny Sosnovskiy and Arkady Volozh in 1996, when they bought out their former employer for $10 million dollars (about 15 million rubles).
7# Ask.com
Ask.com is a search engine that was founded in 1995 by Marc Andreesen and Jim Barksdale, both of whom had previously worked at Netscape Communications Corp. (Netscape was acquired by AOL in 1998). The company’s headquarters are located in New York City with over 100 million users worldwide and is owned by IAC Search & Media Inc., which also owns other brands such as Match Group Inc., Tinder among others.
8# AOL.com
AOL is a media and technology company. It was founded in 1985, and acquired Netscape in 1999. In 2015, Verizon Corporation purchased AOL for $4 billion—the largest digital media acquisition ever made at that time.
AOL owns TechCrunch, Engadget, The Huffington Post and other sites like them (including Techmeme).
9# DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo is a search engine that focuses on privacy. It’s a competitor to Google, but it has much less data about you. The site was founded in 2008 by Gabriel Weinberg and is based in Pennsylvania, USA.
The site has over 30 million users worldwide, which makes it one of the most popular sites on the web. Popular Search Engines in the World
Google is The Leader with over 70% of global search usage
In the search engine market, Google is the leader with over 70% of global search usage. It has a market share of over 90% in many countries and is used by over 700 million people every day. Its popularity continues to grow as it recently announced that it will soon be launching its own smartphone operating system called “Android”, which will compete directly with Apple’s iOS platform. Popular Search Engines in the World
Google is the clear leader in search, but Bing and Baidu are gaining ground. For example, Bing now accounts for just under 30% of all searches worldwide, while Baidu has almost doubled its share from 11% when we last checked in 2012. Yahoo! and Yandex have both seen their market shares decline over the years as well. Most Popular Search Engines in the World – 2025