The very first tool used for searching on the Internet was 'Archie', created in 1990 by Alan Emtage, a computer science student at McGill University in Montreal. The name stands for "archive" without the "v." Then 1991 came two new search programs, Veronica and Jughead. These search programs downloaded the directory listings of all the files located on public anonymous FTP (File Transfer Protocol) sites, creating a searchable database of file names. In common speak that means it would display hyperlinks to webpages which happen to contain part of or the entire keyword (that's the thing you're looking for) in their directory. Very tedious!
The next step was numerous specialized catalogues were maintained by hand. Using these catalogues as a reference the web's first primitive search engine, released on September 2, 1993. Soon after, many search programs appeared and vied for popularity. These included Magellan, Excite, Infoseek, Inktomi, Northern Light, and AltaVista. Yahoo! was among the most popular ways for people to find web pages of interest, but its search function operated on its web directory, rather than full-text copies of web pages. Information seekers could also browse the directory instead of doing a keyword-based search.
Around 2000, the Google rose to prominence. The company achieved better results for many searches with an innovation called PageRank. This iterative algorithm ranks web pages based on the number and PageRank of other web sites and pages that link there, on the premise that good or desirable pages are linked to more than others. In simple terms PageRank is an elaborate reference/recommendation system. Kinda like the connections a very well known or influential individual has.
Ok so as you know a web search engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. The search results are usually presented in a list of results and are commonly called hits. The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other types of files. So now you're wondering what's search engine optimization right?
Simply put Search Engine Optimization Search engine optimization (SEO) is a method to improve a website's ranking in search engine results, in the major search engines like Google, Yahoo & MSN. In today's world of cut throat competition and 5 second attention spans, search rankings can make or break a business. Believe it or not research has shown that 90% of search engine users don't make it past the first 3 pages and approximately 80% of online purchases start with a search engine. So what good is a clean, crisp new web design if it can't be found? The answer is unfortunately, no good. Which is where the SEO comes into play. SEO is a tool that helps businesses, corporations & organizations tweak their existing websites & databases to attain better PageRank scores. SOE may be run by the IT department of the concerned organization or maybe contracted out to a specializing consultancy.