Why only Google for SEO?

[deepsand]

So, your categorical claim re. worldwide use, preferences, desirability, etal. was really just you own personal opinion?

If so, that's fine. But, present it as such, rather than being a factual statement about the whole world.

[dburdon]

In the UK we are effectively left with two search engines - Google and Bing. By optimising for Google you will also pick up visitors from Bing.

[claybutler]

Optimizing for multiple search engines is a myth. It can't be done. You have to pick one and let the other results fall where they may. Picking Google makes really good sense as it so dominant. If you do well in Google, you will do roughly the same in the other engines. This is because all the search engines have more or less settled on a standard algorythm. Sure they tweak a bit around the edges but all of them pay very close attention to title tags, anchor text, body content in inbound links. That's the heart of SEO. All the other stuff is just tinkering.

These are my search stats for one month for one site (engine/visitors).
1. google 16,139
2. yahoo 184
3. bing 180
4. search 129
5. ask 71
6. aol 36

This matches my raw server logs and this Google dominance trend has just gotten more pronounced year after year for nearly a decade. This is the same ratio for all my clients across all fields - from insurance and fine dinning, to sport equipment to Halloween masks.

So the question should not be "why do you optimize for Google" but "why would you waste your time on any others?"

[DigiDog]

Well put, Clay. You've hit the nail on the head. Many of us remember the days when we'd also optimise for HotBot and other engines but the world has changed since then and Google is the only relevant SE to target these days.

While traffic figures on my sites are more modest than Clay's, the spread is roughly the same. Google is the only SE I target these days because that's where almost all of my SE traffic comes from.

[claybutler]

Google is the only SE I target these days because
that's where almost all of my SE traffic comes from.

And just to add, I don't get so much traffic from Google proportionally because I only do well in Google. A number one position on Google brings far more traffic than the same number one position on Bing or Yahoo. Almost 100 to 1. Google is what most of the people in the US use by far. It's not even close. It's a total slaughter. So you could optimize all day long for Bing and have number one positions on Bing, but it will be a sad consolation prize if you sacrificed Google SERPs in the process. The numbers aren't there.

[alphaomega]

I am not a SEO expert, but imo if a website follows the basic rules like quality content, backlinks etc that should show results in all searc engines.

[Mel]

Ok there are parts of the World where Google is not the most popular search engine, but IMO if you are doing SEO on English language sites then Google is going to be the search engine with the most potential traffic for your site.

Having said that I find that optimizing for Google gives me very good results on the other major search engines in English speaking countries.

[Lorel509]

It used to be that getting high ranking in Yahoo/Bing could get you penalized by Google. Is that still true?

[LD]

Google is hands down the most trafficked search engine and the most productive. Logic would dictate this would be the first you would optimize, then the others afterwards.

Re-read post #13.

[deepsand]

It used to be that getting high ranking in Yahoo/Bing could get you penalized by Google. Is that still true?

Was it ever really true?