Google needs SEO to rank on Google! Why? Let me explain.

When I first published this post in 2007 a hugely popular Google optimization parody exploded on the Web.

Nowadays we would say it went viral. It was titled:

“What if Google had to design their user interface for Google?”.

It was both funny and sad and that’s why the parody was spectacularly successful everywhere on the Web.

Yet how true is it?

It’s “more” true than you might think!

You won’t believe what’s the best search engine according to Google!

Why Google needs SEO

Google needs SEO apparently to this day.

They don’t rank for generic terms in most cases.

Just search on Google for

• search
• search engine
• web search
• internet search
• best search engine

and guess what?

Back on October 16th, 2007 Google was not even in the top 10 for the latter!

Neither for search nor for any other of those queries on Google.com!

Google is stupid, I told you before.

It’s like in the parody, without using the term “search” and enough targeted links you won’t rank high on Google.

Targeted links are links with partial or even exact match anchor text like “search” or “search engine”.

That’s why the best search engine according to Google search is…

Just search Google to find out.

You’d think this changed by 2026 – almost 20 years later. Not really.

Search engines I recommend

So what is the best search engine then?

Google is fine IMHO once you know how to unearth the “Web” results.

Yet there are better alternatives.

I recommend using Ecosia, Startpage or DuckDuckGo instead.

Or even bare. search!

Why?

They are more private, less cluttered, offer AI summaries as opt-in or don’t force-feed them at all.

They show fewer ads on top! Plus many more reasons!

Who ranks on top for best search engine?

OK, after almost 20 years I did search for you!

By 2026 when you look for

[search] Google comes first.

[search engine] Brave is the first search engine mentioned after Wikipedia.

[web search] Startpage shows up first.

[internet search] shows Yandex on top!

[best search engine] Brave wins again after (PC Mag and) Reddit (depending from where you search from).

Google is still not even in the top 10 of organic Web results when you look for the [best search engine]!

So what does it mean?

On the democratic Web where links count as endorsements Google’s own algorithm recommends mostly Google alternatives for search!

Surprising, isn’t it?

In their newly added AI summaries they also mention themselves.

These answers are run by large language models and do not rely that much on actual search results.

In other words they are more biased or often flawed.

And Brave search is indeed a viable option as well!

They even have their own index unlike the others I recommended above.