The search began in the nineties as websites flourished on the Internet. Since 1998 when Google entered the market with its algorithm-based information retrieval system, the shape of search began to change. The browser became flooded with online visitors, and websites became the most desired interface.
For websites, it all started with minimal designs and dynamism. Most of the websites built in those days were static. The images and text were the elements that coloured the website. All this was going to change in time to come as web development began to advance. The earlier websites were made using HTML and that was followed by PHP. Rapid development in coding technologies was taking place and application development was slowly creeping.
Search technology in the nascent state presented websites it based on simple algorithms. Bing, Yahoo, and Google were the major contenders with almost equal shares. But Google soon outraced it with a major share. Today it commands a 95% search market share.
Google it!
Google search box was simple throughout while Bing and Yahoo search boxes were cluttered. But this was not the reason for Google’s colossal success. Perhaps it was its algorithms that made the difference. Information retrieval is the key to success on the SERPs. SERPs stands for search engine result pages the blank search space we see on the browser page.
In the initial stages, Google indexed sites and ranked them on the keywords present on the page, and the number of inbound links pointing to them. This algorithm-based retrieval system was very basic, and could easily be spammed. Keyword stuffing was common in those days much beyond the norm of 4 to 5% acceptable today.
Spammy directory submission was rampant, and it was a great success. Link farms were flourishing as well, and were effective. As long as the number of links began to increase the website rose in ranking irrespective of whatever the website was. Subsequent algorithmic changes made the difference. Algorithmic changes Panda and Penguin that emerged every year began to impact spammy websites, on-page content, and spammy links.
With time, many more algorithmic changes came into the picture. Google is constantly changing its algorithms for the better and the results are constantly improving.
