On the 10th September 1990 a software tool for indexing archives was created, called Archie, it was the first version of a functioning search engine.
Archie began as a project for students at the McGill University School of Computer Science (Montreal, Canada). Pre-websites, developer Alan Emtage populated a computer at the University with a searchable index of file names of software archives (hence the name Archie). Other searchers were able to use Archie to look up specific files and then connect the engine to other databases. A search for a title on Archie was relatively easy and as a result, word got out about this great tool, and so as more software developers began to log in and add their information, the search engine grew.
How search engines work in their simplest description is that a specific program (a bot) crawls pages (now billions of them), indexes them and then puts them in an order, a Rank. The search produces a list of answers to what is being asked in the search “query”.
Once websites were created (1992), many used the search engine concept as their main business offering, the earliest being Yahoo, MSN (now Bing) and AltaVista, although the market is now dominated by Google. Archie started what is today a huge industry that is now used by the majority of modern businesses.
Over the last 30 years, search engine technology (as we all know) has become far more sophisticated, with new updates and enhancements being released all the time. Search engines today are now very intelligent, use cutting edge technology to produce results and so businesses require experts to assist.
When working with search engines and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), it's important to stay up to date with the latest updates and enhancements. If you cannot find the time to do this, we would recommend working with experts that specialise in search who have a significant amount of knowledge and experience in the field.
As search engines have continued to develop and change, two key points continue to stand out as ways to improve and maintain your search rank:
- The first is building websites with search engine-friendly design and structure. Our team has a wealth of experience in this area. We follow industry best practices to ensure everything is set up in a way that is easy for search engines to crawl the site.
- The second key point is creating regular content that is relevant to your business. In the world of SEO, content is king. By using keywords that are relevant to your business in your content, search engines will see your site as valuable and as industry leaders and will give your website a higher ranking.
From the very humble beginnings of search, to what is offered today, there's no question that we have been continuously learning. We have spent many hours reading updates, books and blogs to stay up with what is happening. Search is constantly improving and growing, with the likes of image, voice, and video search becoming far more widely used.
So what’s instore for the future? Despite how many new features come into play, we are thinking that the principles will remain the same.
If you have any questions regarding design for search engines, content and SEO, give us a call or complete our contact form here, we are happy to help.