There are more than 2 trillion Google searches each year. While this is a near-incomprehensible number for most people, one way of considering it is that Google owns about 90 percent of the total search market. Yet Google isn’t the only search engine that exists, and there was a time that Google had to compete to get your traffic.
That might make you wonder: Should you try optimizing for other search engines? Should you divert resources to chase after those much smaller but much less sought-after pies? Here are a few considerations and questions to help you make that decision:

Where Is Your Audience?

Hopefully, you know your demographic data and audience better than anyone else. Is there any reason you might believe, based on current metrics, that there are many people not using Google that would be interested in your website or content? If you believe this is the case, this could be a reason to do further research into how you can reach this potential traffic from other search engines.

You will have to be honest with yourself about your reach and aspirations, and likely do a bit of further research into your audience if you’re uncertain. Yet once you look over the numbers, we think the answer will be clear to you.

Google Optimization Can Work Elsewhere

If you’re reading this, you’re likely already taking steps to make sure that your website is reaching as many people as possible on Google. And if you aren’t, then you should probably be focusing on Google instead of other search engines. Yet there is still a question we want to bring up: Wouldn’t making the most of your website and its content make it succeed more on other search engines anyhow?

The cornerstones of quality content and ensuring readers are getting what they came for are still the most important factors for Google in the long run, and there is no reason to suspect that these wouldn’t be what’s most important elsewhere as well. And honestly, would you even consider compromising that (and likely part of your Google SEO effectiveness) for a search engine that wants anything else? We didn’t think so.

You Have Limited Resources

If you had the time and money to optimize for every search engine and reach every potential reader or buyer, then, of course, you would do everything you can to that effect. Yet you know this isn’t the case, and you can only do so much before you burn yourself out. Focusing on what matters most and what would get you the greatest returns is vital in this competitive space, so we ask that you at least perform a simple cost-benefit analysis to help you decide whether to choose this course of action.

Conclusion

In most cases, the answer to the title question is a clear no. While you may want to consider your audience and any special circumstances, the resources you would spend optimizing your website for another search engine would be better spent elsewhere.

Guest blog written by Jonathan Blakely, Broadband Search