I thought everyone used Google? Why you’re missing out on 7 million UK web users
So, you’ve set up your Google My Business profile…don’t forget Bing and Yahoo!
The stats are out there. At least 80% of internet users favour Google to search the web. In the UK that number rises to 85.43% (as of April 2020).
To me, two things stand out from this figure:
1) If you haven’t done so already, optimise for Google My Business!
If you’d like to find out more about why, and how, here is our blog about the benefits of Google My Business and how to get started.
2) 15% of UK Internet users is a big number – and a lot of customers to ignore!
With step one complete, take a moment and think about how many internet users there are in the UK alone – and how big a number 15% of that is! The UK adult population is projected to be 52,403,344. In 2019, 91% of UK adults used the internet (This number reaches 99% for Brits aged 16-44, but that’s for another blog, another time). A small amount of maths reveals that 15%, or 14.57% to be precise, is a big number indeed – almost 7 million UK internet users don’t use Google!
For those of you interested, here are the figures:
91% of 52,403,344 = 47,687,043
14.57% of 47,687,043 = 6,948,002
How often would you scoff at the opportunity to optimise the way you reach nearly seven million potential customers for free?
Do a quick search on Bing or Yahoo (or Duck Duck Go) and see how well your business is represented. Compare it with your optimised Google My Business profile and you can see what you, and your potential customers, could be missing on other search engines.
Are your images up to date? Are your news stories posted there? Your offers? Videos? Is your business represented to its potential in the shop window to seven million potential customers?
Why do web users use alternative search engines?
There are all kinds of reasons customers choose to use search engines beyond Google. These range from not being given a choice, such as those logging on using a work computer, to people getting a new device and never changing the default browser or search engines. Some seek a search engine which promises more data privacy, while some even prefer Bing to Google (approach these intriguing characters with caution).
It is easy? Is it quick? Bing! It’s done – 4.4 million users
Yes. And yes. At least for Bing.
Go to www.bingplaces.com and you will be able to claim your business and create your listing “in 3 easy steps.”
Bing places for business even gives you the option to import your Google My Business information and updates!
How much easier could it be? And with a 9.27% share of search engine users (4.4 million users), we think it’s definitely worth spending a tea break setting up.
Yahoo! do you think you are? – 1.2 million users
Yahoo! is slightly more complicated, as it has partnered with Yext – a paid tool to control your business listings across the web.
Yext has then partnered with Yell, “to put small businesses on the map,” and so, if you work from less than 25 business locations, which accounts for 99% of the businesses we work with, you are directed to Yell. From there you are introduced to another selection of paid tools, but also have the option to claim your free business listing.
To make things easier, you can bypass the whole process using this link to add your Yell free business listing: https://www.yell.com/free-listing/
With the smallest traffic share of the UK’s three major search engines (2.56%, or around 1.2 million users), it is up to you whether you think it is worth optimising for Yahoo.
We believe it is, even if purely from a link building perspective. The more genuine listings and links your business can build from high authority sites, the greater authority your site will gain – so at the very least it should help improve your overall SEO performance. Which can only be a good thing, right?
