Google vs Yahoo vs Bing vs Mapquest? What do people use?

I occasionally get asked by clients, “How many people use X search engine versus X search engine?” Being the point-of-contact for my client’s marketing needs, this is something I stay on top often especially when it comes to online advertising. A lot has been happening this year…

Search: Google is still king, but Bing is sprinting

Google has some of the best pay-per-click campaign tools in the market. I prefer to use Google’s Adwords MMC versus the interfaces provided by Microsoft AdCenter or worse yet, Yahoo. For agencies and multiple client setups, Adwords has been great; plus they still have the largest search volume and extensive content network. However Bing is catching up and although Google and Yahoo are almost neck-to-neck, I have a feeling that by this time next year, Bing will be within reach of Google & Yahoo.

However by the end of this year, Microsoft AdCenter will be serving Yahoo’s ads so from a marketer’s perspective, it really doesn’t matter anymore. What all this means though is that the Microsoft AdCenter will become the internet’s largest Search Engine PPC interface serving both Yahoo and Bing ads. Adwords will still remain the largest content network provider though.

Maps: Mapquest shouldn’t be ignored

Many people, including myself, make the mistake of adopting their point of view as being the consensus. Because of this I rarely was considering Mapquest as a viable source of traffic for my clients. However the data proves otherwise. Although the chart shows a drop for Google Maps, I have a feeling this is only as a result of Google’s extended API and how more people are now using 3rd party tools to access this data (ie. Android and iPhone’s Google Maps App). Although Google is still a market leader in this area, Mapquest is still widely used. However in order to advertise on Mapquest you would have to go through AOL Advertising (www.advertising.com) which when it comes to an integrated advertising platform falls short of Google and Bing/Yahoo.

Summary

Google is still the go-to for online advertising but I’m keeping my eye on the new Bing/Yahoo partnership. So when clients ask if they should even consider Yahoo for advertising… I say, yes and no. Yes you should advertise on Yahoo, but come at the end of this year, Yahoo will be using Microsoft’s AdCenter to serve their ads. If my client has a limited budget, I always recommend to start on the Google platform.

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