The History & Evolution of Web Search Engines
2020
January and May core algorithm updates
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft join forces to create Schema.org
Google Panda
2010
Google launches Caffeine indexing system
Google unveils Google Instant
2009
2009-07-29 – Microsoft, Yahoo! Change Search Landscape SUNNYVALE, Calif. and REDMOND, Wash. – 29 July, 2009 – Yahoo! and Microsoft announced an agreement that will improve the Web search experience for users and advertisers, and deliver sustained innovation to the industry. In simple terms, Microsoft will now power Yahoo! search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers.
2008
2008 July – Cuil search engine launches . Founded by former Googlers in an attempt to unseat the champ. Spoiler: they didn’t. Shut down in September 2010.
DuckDuckGo launches
2007
2006
2006 January – Google launches Google Video
2006 February – SE traffic 5.1 billion searches per month
2006 February – Teoma/Ask.com The Butler is gone
2006 March – Zeal Directory discontinued
2006 March – Google acquires Writely.com
2006 March – Google launches Google Mars
2006 March – Google joins the S&P 500 Index
2006 April – Yahoo! launches FairChase Travel
2006 August – Google launches Writely Beta
2006 August – Danny Sullivan resigning from SEW
2006 September – MSN launches Live Search
2005
2005 January – AOL Search Relaunches
2005 January – Gigablast Index Size 1,000,000,000+
2005 March – Overture Renamed Yahoo! SMS
2005 March – Yahoo! Celebrates 10th Anniversary
2005 March – IAC/InterActiveCorp acquires AskJeeves
2005 May – AskJeeves acquires Excite Europe
2005 June – Corey Rudl dies at age 34
2005 August – Incisive acquires SearchEngineWatch
2005 August – MSN acquires Teleo (VoIP)
2005 September – Google offers free WiFi to San Francisco
2005 October – Google launches Google Local
2005 December – AOL acquires Truveo
2004
2004 January – New MSN Search BETA
2004 February – Lycos Communities discontinued
2004 February – Lycos Search discontinued
2004 February – Yahoo! Web Search powered by Yahoo!
2004 March – Yahoo! Site Match™ powered by Overture
2004 March – AskJeeves acquires Excite, iWon, My Way
2004 March – AlltheWeb switches to Yahoo! Search
2004 March – Yahoo! Toolbar with WebRank
2004 March – Google Gmail free email service
2004 March – AltaVista switches to Yahoo! Search
2004 June – Google invests in Baidu Search China
2004 June – AskJeeves acquires Tukaroo Search
2004 June – Yahoo! launches Yisou.com China
2004 June – AOL acquires Advertising.com
2004 June – New MSN Search Technology Preview
2004 August 19 – Google IPO GOOG NASDAQ
2004 August – Yahoo! launches Local Search Engine
2004 September – Amazon launches A9.com Search
2004 November – Google Index Size 8,058,044,651
2004 November – New MSN Search
2003
2003 March – Yahoo! acquires Inktomi
2003 April – Overture acquires Fast/AlltheWeb
2003 April – Overture acquires AltaVista
2003 April – Google acquires Applied Semantics
2003 April – FindWhat acquires Espotting
2003 June – Google AdSense
2003 July – Yahoo! to buy Overture
2003 October – Yahoo! acquires Overture
2003 October – Google acquires Sprinks
2002
2002 February – Google AdWords Select
2002 March – Gigablast Pre-Beta
2002 March – LookSmart acquires WiseNut
2002 July – Gigablast Beta
2002 December – Froogle
2001
2001 October – GoTo changes name to Overture
2001 September – AskJeeves acquires Teoma
2001 Sepetember – WiseNut
2001 August – LookSmart integrates Zeal
2001 May – JoeAnt
2001 April – Teoma
2001 February – GoGuides
2001 February – Google acquires Deja Archive
2000
2000 May – Terra acquires Lycos
2000 June – Yahoo! Web Search powered by Google
2000 June – Vivisimo
2000 September – Business.com
2000 September – Espotting
2000 September – LookSmart acquires Zeal Media
2000 October – Google AdWords
2000 December – Google Toolbar
1999
1999 January – At Home acquires Excite
1999 February – GO Network
1999 June – CMGI acquires AltaVista
1999 July – Disney acquires Infoseek
1999 August – AlltheWeb
1999 September – FindWhat
1999 November – NBCi/Snap
About.com
1998
1998 April – Direct Hit
1998 May – Yahoo! Web Search powered by Inktomi
1998 June – ODP/DMOZ
1998 September – MSN Search
1998 September – Google
1998 October – Lycos acquires HotBot
GoTo acquires WWW Worm
1997
1997 February – The Mining Company
1997 April – AskJeeves
1997 July – FAST Search
1997 August – Northern Light
GoTo
1996
1996 January – BackRub
1996 April – Alexa
1996 May – HotBot
1996 June – Archive.org
1996 October – LookSmart
Dogpile
Mamma
1995
1995 February – Infoseek
1995 May – SavvySearch
1995 June – MetaCrawler
1995 August – DejaNews
1995 August – Magellan
1995 September – Inktomi
1995 October – Excite
1995 December – AltaVista
1994
1994 April – WebCrawler
1994 April – Yahoo!
1994 July – Lycos
1994 December – First W3C meeting at MIT
1993
1993 February – Architext
1993 March – First email message sent by Bill Clinton
1993 March – Jughead
1993 June – WWW Wanderer
1993 August – Mosaic Web Browser
1993 November – Aliweb
1993 December – WWW Worm
1993 December – JumpStation
1993 December – RBSE
1992
1992 July – Lynx Web Browser
1992 December – Veronica
1991
1991 April – Gopher
1991 April – WAIS publisher fed search engine
1991 May – WWW Server Production
1990
1990 December – WWW Server Prototype
Archie
Additional Sources for Search Engine History
