How Did Google Win The Battle Of The Search Engines?

Before Google was establishment in 1997, most search engines relied on the databases of textual keywords to find and display relevant results. Whenever internet users entered a search term, programs such as Lycos and AltaVista would simply compare the term to their databases.

At the time AltaVista was king and no one thought they would be topped. They eventually got bought by Yahoo! in 2003, who still retain the brand. AltaVista was shutdown 8th July 2013.

Web pages that included texts most similar to the search terms were considered to be relevant. This then meant they were featured higher in the lists of the search results. However, this automated approach did not always provide logical search results. For example, when a user is searching for the word Microsoft, the pages for the retailers stocking Microsoft products would be featured first. This would display before the Microsoft corporation homepage since a single page would list many of the Microsoft products.

The Emergence of Google

By 1997, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, students at Stanford, had discovered a perfect way to web search. This was referred to as “Google”. The search portal provided its users with unusually relevant search results compared to the existing search engines.

The engine provided superior results. Plus, it did not have the growing clutter that was found on other search sites of the time. Despite its rapid growth to the search portal supremacy, the technology behind this engine was not envisioned as a commercial product or a search site. Instead, it was a product of the Stanford graduate Larry Page’s research.

The History behind the Success of the Search Portal

When it first realised its search portal in 1998, the results were significantly better compared to those of its competitors. Most individuals attribute the engine’s success to the breakthrough technology. However, there was another vital reason, the stubborn refusal to accept that the orthodox view was essential to a portal’s success. After its establishment in 1998, this search engine re-imagined the existing search algorithm of that time and came up with the one that the results based on relevance and popularity.

According to history, the search portal was the first to offer relevant results. And it has since continued to monitor and control its operations for continued growth as well as improvement. The search portal succeeded where others failed. This is due to the fact it offers many benefits and features that are better than those of other engines.

Why is Google between than other search engines?

• Relevancy. The engine’s algorithm is complex, and it is constantly improving to provide its users with relevant results.
• High Reputation. Since its establishment to the present day, the search portal has been developing user-friendly and innovative products. It hires qualified individuals to develop its products and quickly gain the much-needed trust from its users.
• Speed. According to most studies and history, the engine’s query speed, as well as the average time from when a user hits the search button to having a full results page, exceeds other engines.
• Appearance of the Results Page. Compared to web pages, the search portal’s page is more simplistic. What’s more, it is increasingly becoming more and more appealing to the users.
• Site Directory. The search portal shares more than 25 million websites.

More reasons why people love Google over its competitors…

• Focus on the User Experience. This search portal began with the idea that individuals essentially needed access to relevant information in relation to the search queries. The idea helped Larry Page and Sergei Brin to implement clicks and links as a type of recommendation, a value and an indication of relevancy. This idea is what laid a strong foundation for how the engine would provide its services.
• Technology. By using the idea of relevancy, the two developers built the search portal in a way that was better at connecting various users with more relevant results. Any query entered into the portal offered more utility and relevance than other search engines.
• Unique Advertising. A strategy that differentiated this engine from others was the advertising model it eventually adopted. Just like the many excellent moves made by other technological firms, the advertisement idea that would result in AdWords was appropriated from the overture. After realising that the advertisement was essential for profitability but refusing to follow the same path as Excite and Yahoo, it began offering text ads which were separate and unobtrusive from the organic results.

Other Businesses that Google Is Involved in

Since its establishment, the company has expanded far beyond its original claims to fame as a search portal. The firm went public in 2004 and in 2015, it arranged all of its businesses under the famous name Alphabet, Inc.

In the company’s financial reports, the term Alphabet breaks down into two primary categories which are Other Bets and Google. The search portal’s category is the only important segment of the two because the Other Bets category do not meet the required quantitative threshold for reporting.

Currently, Alphabet owns over 200 companies which include mapping, robotics, advertising, telecommunications and video broadcasting.

The firm is growing through acquisitions, increasing revenue and profits in the companies it has. In situations where an existing business or acquisition stops growing, the Alphabet will either sell it outright or fold it into another enterprise.

The firms under the company’s category include Android Ads, Commerce Ads, Chrome Ads, Maps, Cloud Services, Search and YouTube. The Other Bets Category includes a combination of various segments that aren’t individually material. These businesses are Access, Verily, GV, X and Waymo. All these businesses generate revenue through the sales of TV services and the sales of the internet.

Why the Search Portal is Essential to Your Business

The search portal provides you with tools that help you to manage your online presence across the internet including the Map and search. The tool allows you to create, edit and verify listing information to help potential buyers find your business.

It directly improves the quality of your website while helping it to rank better. The listings increase visibility in the research results for the branded searches. Also, it allows users to get directions and listing information from the search results.

They can find all these without going to your site which helps mobile users. The tool helps you to own the information, and it can help you control your service offering, manage, showcase and respond to user reviews.

Google Search has become the most used search engine on the Internet handling more than 3.5 billion searches each day. (See Google Search Statistics)