A lot is said in the SEO community about the search engine Google, far more than is said about any other search engine. In the world of search engine optimisation, Google is the popular kid that everyone wants to be friends with.

The main reason is, of course, commercial. Google drives around 70% of the traffic landing on most web pages. It is by far the most popular search engines in most countries.

Google had its beginnings in 1996 when two Stanford computer science graduates, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, collaborated to create a search engine called Back Rub. The search engine ran off Stanford’s servers for around a year before the pair decided to branch out, and in 1997 they renamed the engine Google in a homage to their mathematical backgrounds. In 1998 they gained financing from Andy Bechtolsheim, Sun co-founder, incorporated and started gaining media attention. In the following year the company made further inroads into search engine popularity, and has been going in leaps and bounds ever since.

The popularity of Google as a search engine means that often other search engines follow the giant’s lead. This is handy in terms of SEO, as there is less worry about missing out on traffic from the other search sites. With most computer technologies, competitors have attempted to outfox each other by providing superior technology or software but making it exclusive. This is a smart marketing move, as it divides the market, but can be devastating to the loser and will annoy consumers. This could easily have happened in the world of search engines, but strangely enough the other search engines seem to have succumbed to Google.

The current state of things is unlikely to be permanent though. In the dynamic world that is SEO, elements are constantly changing. Microsoft garnered a lot of media attention with the release of Bing, which will replace the Microsoft product Live Search. In a savvy move, Microsoft worked out a deal to power Yahoo! Search with the new product as well. As Bing is still very new, the effect this will have on the search engine industry is unknown.

Former Google employees tried to spice up the competition with Cuil, a completely new search engine.  Launched in July 2008, the search engine made an atrocious start when its algorithms malfunctioned, producing often irrelevant results. The would-be Google-killer has yet to make any real splash other than their initial media campaign declaring war on Google.

Part of the reason Google is so successful is because it’s on a roll. After a successful start, the search engine has yet to make any real false moves. The company is also invested in buying out other successful technologies which will support the search engine, such as the acquisition of YouTube in 2006.

Other search engines may overtake Google in time, and a good SEO consultant has their finger firmly on the pulse of the search engine industry. With the hype that surrounded the launch of Bing, it may be that SEO strategies will soon have a different focus. To keep on top of the changes in this dynamic industry, contact our experts at SEO Consult.

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