The Dawn of Search Engines & Google

Over time the internet has progressed and become a common tool in todays society. This is a result of the continued access to information and ability to learn new things. Never in history has there been a time where information is so readily available. We use the internet at work, in school, and even in our personal lives to answer the complex and unknown questions of today. Humans used to create libraries containing thousands of books to store the very information that we now have at our fingertips. And although we may take this invention for granted at times, it has progressed our society by leaps and bounds. However, this access to information would be significantly less effective without the technology that allows us to decipher it all, the search engine. 

A search engine is designed to search for information on the internet by searching documents for specific keywords and then returning a list of sources where the keywords are found. This has created meaningful sources about any topic from this endless amount of information. A search engine can almost instantly use the keywords given to find related documents, even when they are complex topics and documents. It also provides little to no errors in the relation between what you are looking for and what is provided. This development has truly revolutionized the technological world and allowed our society to progress at an exponential rate ever since.

The search engine was invented in 1990 by three students at McGill University studying computer science. The name of these three students were Alan Emtage, Bill Heelan, and Peter Deutsch. However this new invention was truly installed and introduced by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they began their search engine journey with BackRub and introduced it on Stanford University's network. BackRub ultimately became Google in 1998, which was a true stepping stone in the industry as they discovered how to monetize this technology. They did this by selling ads associated with search terms. Meaning companies could pay to have their content come up first when users searched terms related to their content. Ultimately, creating a new market for advertising and marketing your business. 

Over time as Google has continued to become more popular over the years, this means that they have had to adapt and innovate within the industry. These advancements in the search engine industry are known as search engine optimization or SEO. SEO is directed toward increasing the quality and quantity of information produced for a user and portraying that information in an easy to use, user interface. Google first implemented a SEO in the early 2000s called their PageRank algorithm. PageRank ranks websites on the number and quality of the links pointing to them. Google's search engine was improved as the quality of results improved. Meaning that users could more easily find exactly what they were looking for. Next, Google focused on updates improving its algorithm and enhancing its searching capabilities. This came in the 2010s, through a series of key updates each year that implemented these changes along with increased security measures. Finally, a key innovation that we have seen in the past year has been the investment and implementation of AI into the Google search engine. One of the few flaws of modern day search engines is when there are few documents or pieces of information related to the users search. However with the implementation of AI, it has the ability to use its algorithm in order to craft information for the user. This offers diverse information that is constantly learning from itself to become better. This has created a dynamic search engine that has further increased its ability to provide useful and beneficial information to all. 

Google has led the industry of search engines and tech for decades. There have been many other search engines that have gained popularity and been implemented on devices. However, they have no comparison to the size and power of Google. Some of these engines include Yahoo, Bing, Duck Duck Go, Yandex, Ecosia, and Baidu. Most of these companies promote themselves as alternatives to their competitors. For example, Duck Duck Go focuses on user privacy and making sure that users personal information isnt sold to third parties. While companies like Baidu focus on foreign countries that Google doesnt have as much control over. Even with this being true Google has been able to maintain a monopoly over the industry and dominate the space. Allowing them to grow and expand their business in other services over time. Investing in Google Chrome which has created a network of that can all be link together and provide diverse services.

Search engines are important today because society now has the ability to provide information and connect resources from around the world. This is especially important for people who use technology in their everyday lives and who would not have access to this data and information without it. Individuals now have the ability to gain knowledge on a topic simply through the use of a device and search engines. In the past it would have taken months or years to gather the knowledge and books necessary to access this incredible amount of information. It's also not just the amount of information out there but it has also altered how businesses and groups reach their audience. Advertising and marketing have changed significantly in the past two decades as CEO's saw the incredible increase in use of search engines. With the number of searches per year in the trillions, it was no question for them to shift focus on this space. Which has proved to be very beneficial for short term and long term growth. 

Now looking at how search engines will change and the changes they bring. What direction do we move in now? Well, it's become clear that AI is the future for search engine abilities, and whichever company or organization that can harness it first will lead the industry. So far in the advancement of AI, Google has led the way for implementation into their search engine and investing in new research. This could change the monopoly that Google has held for decades.n These advancements have caused negative impacts that are only increasing. Some examples the negative impacts that we have seen because of the advancement of AI and search engines include privacy concerns, mental health concerns, and divisiveness. All these concerns have expanded with the advancement of search engines, social media, and the internet over the past few years. So, while we are inspired to see advancements in these areas, we also must make sure we have caution. So, we can continue incredible advancements but in a responsible and logical way.