Search Engine Optimization Book

SEO BOOK

back then, so US colleges were the first groups to set up servers. Tim added links to their server locations to his directory known as the Virtual Library.

Current link popularity measurements usually show college web pages typically have higher assumed value than most other pages do. This is simply a function of the fact that the roots of the WWW started in lab rooms at colleges. It was not until the mid to late 1990’s that the web became commercialized.

Early Search Engines

The web did not have sophisticated search engines when it began. The most advanced information gathers of the day primitively matched file names. You had to know the name of the file you were looking for to find anything. The first file that matched was returned. There was no such thing as search relevancy. The lack of relevancy is what lead to the early popularity of directories such as Yahoo!.

Overture was launched as a pay per click search engine in 1998. While the Overture system was profitable most portals were still losing money. The targeted ads they (as well as Google AdWords) delivered grew in popularity and finally created a functional profit generating business model which powered large scale general search engines.

Many search engines such as AltaVista and later Inktomi were industry leaders for a period of time, but the rush to market and lack of sophistication associated with online marketing prevented these primitive machines from having functional business models.

Commercialized Cat and Mouse

Web = Cheap Marketing:

As the internet grew in popularity, people realized it as an incredibly cheap marketing platform. Compare the price of spam (virtually free) to direct mail (~ $1 each). Spam fills your inbox and wastes your time. Information retrieval systems (search engines) must also fight off aggressive marketing techniques to keep their search results relevant.

Becoming a Resource:

Though I hate to quote a source I do not remember, I once read that 1 in 3 people believe the top search result is the most relevant document relating to their search.

Imagine the power associated with people finding your view of the world first.

Whatever you are selling, someone is buying! I have been quoted as a source of information on Islam simply because I spoke of a conversation I had with a person from Kuwait who called me for help on the web. I know nothing about Islam, but someone found my post in a search engine...so I was quoted in their term paper.

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