The origins of Search Engines

The first search engine created was Archie, created in 1990 by Alan Emtage, a student at McGill University in Montreal. The original intent of the name was "archives," but it was shortened to Archie. Archie helped solve this data scatter problem by combining a script-based data gatherer with a regular expression matcher for retrieving file names matching a user query. Essentially Archie became a database of web filenames which it would match with the users queries.

Over time, search engines have developed highly complex algorithms to provide fast and highly accurate search engine results. Knowing how to make your website compatible with search engines to get better rankings is called Search Engine Optimization

Why does my company need SEO?

Search engines are always working towards improving their technology to crawl the web more deeply and return increasingly relevant results to users. However, there is and will always be a limit to how search engines can operate. Whereas the right moves can net you thousands of visitors and attention, the wrong moves can hide or bury your site deep in the search results where visibility is minimal. In addition to making content available to search engines, SEO can also help boost rankings so that content that has been found will be placed where searchers will more readily see it. The online environment is becoming increasingly competitive, and those companies who perform SEO will have a decided advantage in visitors and customers.

Search engine optimization is also a fairly cost effective means of promotion for companies of any size. From large multinational corporations to small family run operations, search engine optimization provides a way to attract new customers and promote your products and services.

Here is a excerpt from Sean Alsobrooks:

“How many months has it been since you went looking for information in the yellow pages? How many minutes has it been since you asked your favorite search engine? I think you just answered the question about whether or not your business needs a Website. Without a doubt, Websites are the most overlooked vehicle of advertising for small, owner-operated businesses. Every retailer needs one. Every dentist, lawyer, accountant and minister needs one. Every café, restaurant, coffee shop and nightclub needs one. Every wholesale supply company needs one.”

Simply having a website is not good enough. People need to be able to find your site, and have access to everything your website has to offer. This would be the same as having a brick and mortar store without any address, signs, or listings in any phonebooks. If you can not be found, no one can buy from you.

Why do the search engines need SEO?

Search engines need SEO as well. Deciphering the content of the millions of existing websites is a daunting tasks. Good search engine optimization techniques actually allow the search engines to display better and more accurate results than if they did not rely on these techniques. Better results for search engines mean they are more popular, and will continue to grow as a company.

View Next Article: Search Engine Nuts and Bolts

SEO Manual Outline:

What is SEO
Search Engine Nuts and Bolts
Keyword Research
Critical Components of Optimizing a Site
Building an Effective Website
Building Popularity SEO and You