Evolution of search and its engines - winners, losers, adaptors

The week just gone has seen a spate of claims and counter-claims traded between Google and Microsoft. At a Bing-sponsored event, Google accused Microsoft of cheating and copying its search results. Microsoft flatly denies it has done anything wrong, arguing that user data is just one signal among many that Bing uses to rank pages. As ever, the world of search and search engines continues to evolve.

The recent events are testament to this, confirming yet another search engine optimisation (SEO) prediction for 2011 that leading search marketing and technology firm Greenlight made at the beginning of the year - that the rivalry between Bing and Google would step up a notch this year as Microsoft attempts to make a dent in Google's monolithic market share.

It's a fast-moving, fast-evolving environment

Of Bing's performance last year, Adam Bunn*, director of SEO at Greenlight said in Greenlight's 2011 search predictions:

"By anyone's standards, Bing has had a disappointing year in the UK. Despite having a good search engine with many innovative features and more than holding its own in terms of strategic partnerships, its market share (according to Hitwise), has barely budged from the 3% point it achieved more or less as soon as it was released in the middle of 2009. This will make Microsoft determined to put in a better showing in 2011. One consequence of this will be an acceleration of the tit-for-tat game of one-upmanship that Google and Bing have been engaged in since 2009."

In its 2011 update, Greenlight has charted the facts and stats celebrating 16 years in the evolution of search and search engine optimisation in all its guises, from 1993 - 2010.

So whatever happened to LookSmart, AltaVista, Inktomi, HotBot, Lycos, Infoseek, WebCrawler and Excite?

"From bankruptcies, mergers, acquisitions and becoming defunct, to the recent sparring between Google and Microsoft, all have been and are part of what continues to be the fast moving, rapidly evolving, changing and altering state of the world of search and its engines."

*Adam Bunn is director of SEO at Greenlight where he is responsible for the strategic direction of firm's SEO consultancy and link building products and services. He also oversees Greenlight's internal SEO training programme, provides training for the likes of the IDM and is a regular speaker at industry events such as Search Engine Strategies.