Archie
The first internet search engine was Archie. It has been 32 years since Archie launched in 1990. Although Archie is known as the first internet search engine, there is a considerable difference between what Archie was and what we see as search engines today. Alan Emtage, Peter Deutsch and Bill Heelan were the developers. They decided to call the platform Archie so that it was like Archive.
The primary purpose of Archie was to allow students at the McGill University School of Computer Science to look through FTP files on the internet. Due to it being FTP files, it meant it was tough to search. Today our search engines are good at picking up on keywords and can help us find related information. However, when it came to Archie, you had to know the exact title of the file for it to find it. Over time Archie was developed and was accessible in several universities. The demand for search engines such as Archie was growing around the world. As the internet grew, the need for a platform to filter through and find relevant documents became more and more necessary.
Yahoo!
The following internet search engine we will be looking at is Yahoo!. Yahoo! was released only six years after Archie in 1996. The acronym Yahoo stands for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle. Jerry Yang and David Filo were the creators behind Yahoo!. However, when they first created the site, it was called “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web”. It was a combination of different websites that people could search through; it was not as widespread and didn’t allow people to search the entire internet. Unlike Archie, Yahoo! is still one of the search engines that people use today.
Ask Jeeves/ask
Ask Jeeves is a search engine that was released in 1997. This search engine was a part of a huge evolution when it came to how to search the internet. As we have stated previously, when searching on Archie or Yahoo! it was essential to use the correct terminology; otherwise, you would not receive the suitable answer sites. However, Ask Jeeves was the first search engine to be able to analyse every word in your search and produce the most accurate results. Ask Jeeves was known for having the most relevant results to any search.
When Google came out, Ask Jeeves had significant competition due to them both being good at accurate results. In 2005 IAC (Inter Active Corp, an American company) took over Ask Jeeves and changed its name to Ask.com in 2006.
IAC changed the name due to Ask.com having a cheaper royalty fee. After Google had grown and become the most popular search engine, the producers behind Ask.com decided not to develop it anymore because it cost a lot, and they didn’t believe they could beat Google.
The following internet search engine we will be looking at is Google. It is the most used search engine today. However, Google is not new; it was launched in 1998 and has significantly improved and updated over the past 24 years. Google was built in a dorm room by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both students. The idea behind their Search Engine was to use links to identify and rank individual pages on the internet. As we know, this is what Google does today. It is a site that ranks all the different sites, files, images and blogs. You will be presented with the most relevant and helpful information when you search on Google.
Google has evolved so much over the last few years that it has various spin-offs, for example, Google crone. What started as a search engine has become a multi-purpose site, including online documents and emails created through this platform. Google is available on all devices such as computers, tablets and mobile phones. Advertising on Google to boost your businesses and sites is also possible.
Microsoft/Bing
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Microsoft was concerned about how popular Google was becoming; therefore, in 1998, they launched a search engine called MSN (Microsoft Network).
To begin with, Microsoft used Inktomi’s search results. Inktomi was a search engine that companies could hire and use the search results; this was also how Yahoo started. Microsoft chose to use Inktomi because they did not want to invest in the search engine as it was a panicked decision rather than one they wanted to do. However, in 2004 they realised their plan hadn’t worked and decided to invest in making their own search software. By Microsoft producing the search software, they were able to offer it out to other search engines and therefore make a profit through market share and ad revenues.
In 2006 MSN was rebranded to Microsoft Live and then again in 2007 to Live search. The site was renamed to make the search engine appear more modern and encourage more people to use it.
Finally, in 2009 they renamed it Bing, which has not changed since. Bing was a popular search engine and a severe competitor to Google. Bing decided to join with Yahoo! who was their closest rival. Combining was a way for Microsoft to grow and give them a chance of overtaking Google, which they have not succeeded in. However, Yahoo! is still powered by Bing to this day.
Overview
There have been so many different search engines over the past 32 years. Some of the most popular you see and use today are Bing, Google, Yahoo! and Crone. The ability to do personal searches and be able to have access to everything on the internet for free is a very extraordinary thing. One that many people not so long ago had. You would not be reading this if it weren’t for a search engine.
