History of Search Engines & Directories

Call: 901-568-2255

Historical Events of Internet 
Search Engines and Directories

Chronological Summary of the important events of Internet Search Engines & Directories.  Table will be updated as noteworthy & historical events occur within the Search Engine or Directory community and as newly acquire historical data has been verified.

Date Last Modified:  November 18, 2004

Year Month Event
1990 ? Archie Search Engine - Created to archive FTP documents
December WWW Server Prototype
1991 April WAIS publisher fed search engine
Gopher Protocol
December  Production WWW Server
1992 July Lynx Web Browser
December Veronica Search Engine - Created to archive Gopher documents
1993 April Architext
March Jughead
June WWW Wanderer
August Mosaic Web Browser
November Aliweb
December WWW Worm
JumpStation
RBSE
1994 ? Open Text
January Galaxy
April WebCrawler
Yahoo Directory
July Lycos
December First W3C meeting at MIT
1995 February Infoseek
May SavvySearch
June MetaCrawler
August DejaNews
Magellan
September Inktomi
October Excite
December AltaVista
1996 ? Dogpile
Mamma
January BackRub
April Alexa
May HotBot
June Archive.org
October LookSmart
1997 ? GoTo
February The Mining Company
April Ask Jeeves
July FAST Search
August Northern Lights
1998 ? GoTo acquires WWW Worm
April Direct Hit
May Yahoo Search (powered by Inktomi)
June Open Directory Project  (ODP / DMOZ.org)
September MSN Search
Google
October Lycos acquires HotBot
1999 ? About.com
January @Home acquires Excite
February GO Network
June CMGI acquires AltaVista
2000 May Terra acquires Lycos
June Yahoo Search (powered by Google)
Vivísimo
September Business.com
Espotting
LookSmart acquires Zeal Media
October Google AdWords
December Google Toolbar
2001 February Google acquires Deja Archive
GoGuides
April Teoma
May JoeAnt
August LookSmart integrates Zeal 
September WiseNut
AskJeeves acquires Teoma
October GoTo changes name to Overture
2002 February Google AdWords Select
March GigaBlast Pre-Beta
Looksmart acquires WiseNut
July GigaBlast Beta
December Froogle Beta
2003 March Yahoo acquires Inktomi
April Overture acquires Fast / AlltheWeb
Overture acquires AltaVista
Google acquires Applied Semantics
FindWhat acquires Espotting
June Google Adsense
July Yahoo to buy Overture
October Yahoo acquires Overture
Google acquire Sprinks
2004

 

 February Yahoo Drops Google as SERPs provider  (powered by an Inktomi/Yahoo hybrid)
 September A9.com Search Engine from Amazon is launched.   It is mainly powered by Google
 November Microsoft Search was officially announced Nov 11th.    Still in Beta.
2005  January Microsoft Search Since Jan 16th, most of the main site searches were using the MSN Search.
February Microsoft Search Feb 1st, Microsoft removed the beta designation from MSN Search and officially launched, complete with an improved index and a redesigned MSN.com homepage.
 

Authors Note:  A good bit of care when into the research of the above time table of Search Engine & Directory History.   We do not guarantee that the information is 100% accurate.  Some dates are based on the Search Engines or Directories inception, other dates are their celebrated Launch Date and some the date they were made available to the public.

If you find a gross error and can provide adequate proof, or if you have new or important information that you'd like to see be added, please drop us a note and let us know!  

 

Contact Information

 

 

  Internet Marketing Home
  SEO TIPS & TECHNIQUES
  SEARCH ENGINES 
 
  SEO Articles
  GENERAL INFORMATION


© Copyright 2001-2005 by CommerceFriends.com, Memphis, Tennessee.  All Rights Reserved.
Site maintained by VIMATA Interactive Corp Memphis, TN -

Search Engine Optimization Services & Internet Marketing - CommerceFriends.com

Resources:  Supplies & Equipment for Pools - Animal Figurines & Fine Crystal Figurine - Patio Outdoor Furniture & Market Umbrellas -
Swing Sets Wood Kits
- Storage Buildings & Outdoor Sheds - Gifts Ideas - Home Decor Accessories - Preschool Play Finger Play Games & Videos - Cover Your Book Ideas at Book-a-roo-Covers - Outdoor Backyard & Patio Decor - Antiques & Collectibles