Changes

This page provides a full '''timeline of web search engines''', starting from the [[wikipedia:Archie search engine|Archie search engine]] in 1990. It is complementary to the [[wikipedia:history of web search engines|history of web search engines]] page that provides more qualitative detail on the history.

| 1990 || || Pre-web search engine || The [[wikipedia:Archie search engine|Archie search engine]], created by [[wikipedia:Alan Emtage|Alan Emtage]], Bill Heelan and J. Peter Deutsch, computer science students at [[wikipedia:McGill University|McGill University]] in [[wikipedia:Montreal|Montreal]], goes live. The program downloads the directory listings of all the files located on public anonymous FTP ([[wikipedia:File Transfer Protocol|File Transfer Protocol]]) sites, creates a searchable database of a lot of file names; however, Archie does not index the contents of these sites since the amount of data is so limited it can be readily searched manually.<ref>{{ cite web | title = The First Search Engine, Archie | url = http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~chip/projects/timeline/1990archie.htm | accessdate = 2007-05-26 | archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20070621141150/http://isrl.uiuc.edu/~chip/projects/timeline/1990archie.htm| archivedate= 21 June 2007 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref><ref>{{ cite web | title = In Russian: History of the Internet. The First Search Engine | url = http://www.xserver.ru/computer/nets/internet/196/ | accessdate = 2012-02-23 }}</ref><ref name=seh/><ref name=internetseh>{{cite web|url=http://www.wordstream.com/articles/internet-search-engines-history|title = History of Search Engines - Chronological List of Internet Search Engines|accessdate = February 3, 2014}}</ref>

| 1991 || || Pre-web search engine || The rise of [[wikipedia:Gopher (protocol)|Gopher]] (created in 1991 by [[wikipedia:Mark McCahill|Mark McCahill]] at the [[wikipedia:University of Minnesota|University of Minnesota]]) leads to two new search programs, [[wikipedia:Veronica (computer)|Veronica]] and [[wikipedia:Jughead (computer)|Jughead]]. Like Archie, they search the file names and titles stored in Gopher index systems. Veronica (''V''ery ''E''asy ''R''odent-''O''riented ''N''et-wide ''I''ndex to ''C''omputerized ''A''rchives) provides a keyword search of most Gopher menu titles in the entire Gopher listings. Jughead (''J''onzy's ''U''niversal ''G''opher ''H''ierarchy ''E''xcavation ''A''nd ''D''isplay) is a tool for obtaining menu information from specific Gopher servers. While the name of the search engine "Archie" was not a reference to the [[wikipedia:Archie Comics|Archie comic book]] series, "[[wikipedia:Veronica Lodge|Veronica]]" and "[[wikipedia:Jughead Jones|Jughead]]" are characters in the series, thus referencing their predecessor.<ref name=seh>{{Cite web|url=http://www.searchenginehistory.com/|title = Search Engine History|accessdate = February 3, 2014}}</ref>

| 1992 || || Virtual library of the web || [[wikipedia:Timothy Berners-Lee|Timothy Berners-Lee]] sets up the [[wikipedia:Virtual Library|Virtual Library]] (VLib), a loose confederation of topical experts maintaining relevant topical link lists.<ref name=seh/><ref name=internetseh/>

| 1993 || June || First [[wikipedia:web robot|web robot]] || [[wikipedia:Matthew K. Gray|Matthew Gray]] produces the first known [[wikipedia:web robot|web robot]], the [[wikipedia:Perl|Perl]]-based [[wikipedia:World Wide Web Wanderer|World Wide Web Wanderer]], and uses it to generate an index of the web called the Wandex.<ref name=seh/><ref name=internetseh/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mit.edu/~mkgray/net/background.html|title = Internet Growth and Statistics: Credit and Background|last = Gray|first = Matthew|accessdate = February 3, 2014}}</ref> However, the World Wide Web Wanderer is intended only to measure the size of the web rather than to facilitate search.

| 1993 || September 2 || First web search engine || [[wikipedia:W3Catalog|W3Catalog]], written by [[wikipedia:Oscar Nierstrasz|Oscar Nierstrasz]] at the [[wikipedia:University of Geneva|University of Geneva]], is released to the world. It is the world's first web search engine. It does not rely on a crawler and indexer but rather on already existing high-quality lists of websites. One of its main drawbacks is that the bot accesses each page hundreds of times each day, causing performance degradation.<ref name=seh/><ref name=internetseh/><ref name="history">{{cite web |url=http://scg.unibe.ch/archive/software/w3catalog/|title=W3 Catalog History}}</ref><ref name="virtual">{{cite web|url=http://www-ksl.stanford.edu/people/gruber/virtual-documents-htw/|title=Virtual documents that explain How Things Work: Dynamically generated question-answering documents|author=Thomas R. Gruber, Sunil Vemuri and James Rice|date=December 1995|publisher=Knowledge Systems Laboratory, Stanford University}}</ref>

| 1993 || October/November || Second web search engine || [[wikipedia:Aliweb|Aliweb]], a web search engine created by [[wikipedia:Martijn Koster|Martijn Koster]], is announced. It does not use a web robot, but instead depends on being notified by website administrators of the existence at each site of an index file in a particular format. The absence of a bot means that less bandwidth is used; however, most website administrators are not aware of the need to submit their data.<ref name=seh/><ref name=internetseh/>

| 1993 || December || First web search engine to use a crawler and indexer || [[wikipedia:JumpStation|JumpStation]], created by [[wikipedia:Jonathon Fletcher|Jonathon Fletcher]], is released. It is the first WWW resource-discovery tool to combine the three essential features of a web search engine (crawling, indexing, and searching).<ref name=seh/><ref name=internetseh/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://metro.co.uk/2009/03/15/why-we-nearly-mcgoogled-it-545208/|title = Why we nearly McGoogled it|date = March 15, 2009|accessdate = February 3, 2014|publisher = ''Metro''}}</ref>

| 1994 || January || New web search engine || [[wikipedia:Infoseek|Infoseek]] is launched.<ref name=seh/><ref name=internetseh/>

| 1994 || January || Web search engine supporting natural language queries || [[wikipedia:Altavista|Altavista]] is launched. This is a first among web search engines in many ways: it has unlimited bandwidth, allows natural language queries, has search tips, and allows people to add or delete their domains in 24 hours.<ref name=seh/><ref name=internetseh/>

| 1994 || March || New web search engine || The [[wikipedia:World-Wide Web Worm|World-Wide Web Worm]] is released. It is claimed to have been created in September 1993, at which time there did not exist any crawler-based search engine, but it is not the earliest at the time of its actual release. It supports [[wikipedia:Perl|Perl]]-based regular expressions.<ref name=seh/><ref name=internetseh/>

| 1994 || April 20 || New web search engine || The [[wikipedia:WebCrawler|WebCrawler]] search engine, created by Brian Pinkerton at the [[wikipedia:University of Washington|University of Washington]], is released.<ref name=internetseh/> Unlike its predecessors, it allows users to search for any word in any webpage, which has become the standard for all major search engines since.

| 1994 || April || New web directory || [[wikipedia:Yahoo!|Yahoo!]] launches its web directory.<ref name=internetseh/> Yahoo! would not build its own web search engine until 2002, relying until then on outsourcing the search function to other companies.

| 1994 || July || New web search engine || [[wikipedia:Lycos|Lycos]], a web search engine, is released.<ref name=internetseh/> It began as a research project by [[wikipedia:Michael Loren Mauldin|Michael Loren Mauldin]] of [[wikipedia:Carnegie Mellon University|Carnegie Mellon University's]] main [[wikipedia:Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh]] campus.

| 1995 || || New web directory || [[wikipedia:LookSmart|LookSmart]] is released. It competes with [[wikipedia:Yahoo!|Yahoo!]] as a web directory, and the competition makes both directories more inclusive.

| 1996 || January–March|| New web search engine || [[wikipedia:Larry Page|Larry Page]] and [[wikipedia:Sergey Brin|Sergey Brin]] begin working on [[wikipedia:BackRub|BackRub]], the predecessor to [[wikipedia:Google Search|Google Search]]. The crawler begins activity in March.<ref name=internetseh/>

| 1996 || May || New web search engine || [[wikipedia:Inktomi|Inktomi]] releases its [[wikipedia:HotBot|HotBot]] search engine.<ref name=internetseh/>

| 1997 || April || New natural language-based web search engine || [[wikipedia:Ask Jeeves|Ask Jeeves]], a natural language web search engine, that aims to rank links by popularity, is released. It would later become [[wikipedia:Ask.com|Ask.com]].<ref name=internetseh/><ref name=official-google-history>{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/about/company/history/|title = Our history in depth|publisher = [[wikipedia:Google|Google]]|date = September 15, 1997|accessdate = February 1, 2014}}</ref>

| 1998 || July–September || New web search portal || [[wikipedia:MSN|MSN]] launches a search portal called MSN Search, using search results from [[wikipedia:Inktomi|Inktomi]]. After many changes to the backend search engine, MSN would start developing in-house search technology in 2005, and later change its name to [[wikipedia:Bing (search engine)|Bing]] in June 2009.

| 1997 || September 23 || New web search engine (non-English) || [[wikipedia:Arkady Volozh|Arkady Volozh]] and [[wikipedia:Ilya Segalovich|Ilya Segalovich]] launch their [[wikipedia:Russian (language)|Russian]] web search engine yandex.ru and publicly present it at the Softool exhibition in Moscow. The initial development is by Comptek; Yandex would become a separate company in 2000.<ref name="yandexcomhistory">[http://company.yandex.com/general_info/history.xml About Yandex &mdash; History of Yandex]. Retrieved May 24, 2011. [http://www.webcitation.org/5yvl8XgIr Archived copy].</ref>

| 1998 || June 5 || New web directory || Gnuhoo, a web directory project by [[wikipedia:Rich Skrenta|Rich Skrenta]] and [[wikipedia:Bob Truel|Bob Truel]], both employees of [[wikipedia:Sun Microsystems|Sun Microsystems]], launches.<ref name=internetseh/><ref name="SlashdotGnuhoo">{{cite web|url=http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=98/06/23/0849239| accessdate = April 27, 2007|work=[[wikipedia:Slashdot|Slashdot]] | title=The GnuHoo BooBoo}}</ref> It would later be renamed the [[wikipedia:Open Directory Project|Open Directory Project]].

| 1999 || May || New web search engine || [[wikipedia:AlltheWeb|AlltheWeb]], based on the Ph.D. thesis of Tor Egge at the [[wikipedia:Norwegian University of Science and Technology|Norwegian University of Science and Technology]], titled ''FTP Search'', launches. The engine is launched by Egge's company [[wikipedia:Fast Search & Transfer|Fast Search & Transfer]], established on July 16, 1997.<ref name=internetseh/>

| 2000 || January 1 || New web search portal || [[wikipedia:Baidu|Baidu]], a Chinese company that would grow to provide many search-related services, launches.

| 2002-3 || || Web search business consolidation || [[wikipedia:Yahoo!|Yahoo!]] buys Inktomi (2002) and then [[wikipedia:Overture Services Inc.|Overture Services Inc.]] (2003) which has already bought [[wikipedia:AlltheWeb|AlltheWeb]] and [[wikipedia:Altavista|Altavista]]. Starting 2003, Yahoo! starts using its own [[wikipedia:Yahoo Slurp|Yahoo Slurp]] web crawler to power [[wikipedia:Yahoo! Search|Yahoo! Search]]. Yahoo! Search combines the technologies of all Yahoo!'s acquisitions (until 2002, Yahoo! had been using Google to power its search).

| 2004-5 || November (2004) - February (2005) || Change in backend providers || Microsoft starts using its own indexer and crawler for MSN Search rather than using blended results from [[wikipedia:LookSmart|LookSmart]] and [[wikipedia:Inktomi|Inktomi]].

| 2004 || December || User experience || [[wikipedia:Google Suggest|Google Suggest]] is introduced as a [[wikipedia:Google Labs|Google Labs]] feature.<ref name=suggest-sel>{{cite web|url=http://searchengineland.com/googlecom-finally-gets-google-suggest-feature-14626|title = Google.com Finally Gets Google Suggest Feature|last = Sullivan|first = Danny|authorlink = Danny Sullivan (technologist)|publisher = [[wikipedia:Search Engine Land|Search Engine Land]]|date = August 25, 2008|accessdate = February 2, 2014}}</ref><ref name=suggest-official>{{cite web|url=http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/at-loss-for-words.html|title = At a loss for words?|date = August 25, 2008|publisher = Official Google Blog|accessdate = February 2, 2014}}</ref>

| 2005 || January || Webmaster tools || To combat link spam, [[wikipedia:Google|Google]], [[wikipedia:Yahoo!|Yahoo!]] and [[wikipedia:Microsoft|Microsoft]] collectively introduce the [[wikipedia:nofollow|nofollow]] attribute.<ref name=moz>{{cite web|url=http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change|title = Google Algorithm Change History|publisher = [[wikipedia:SEOmoz|SEOmoz]]|accessdate = February 1, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2062985/Google-Yahoo-MSN-Unite-On-Support-For-Nofollow-Attribute-For-Links|title = Google, Yahoo, MSN Unite On Support For Nofollow Attribute For Links|last = Sullivan|first = Danny|authorlink = Danny Sullivan (technologist)|date = January 18, 2005|accessdate = February 1, 2014|publisher = Search Engine Watch}}</ref>

| 2005 || October || New web search engine || [[wikipedia:Overture|Overture]] owner [[wikipedia:Bill Gross|Bill Gross]] launches the Snap search engine, with many features such as display of search volumes and other information, as well as sophisticated auto-completion and related terms display. It is unable to get traction and soon goes out of business.<ref name=internetseh/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://websearch.about.com/od/enginesanddirectories/a/snap.htm|title = Snap - A New Kind of Search Engine|last = Boswell|first = Wendy|accessdate = February 11, 2014|publisher = [[wikipedia:About.com|About.com]]}}</ref>

| 2006-2009 || || New human-curated web search engine || [[wikipedia:Wikia|Wikia]] launches [[wikipedia:Wikia Search|Wikia Search]], a search engine based on human curation, but then shuts it down. Relevant dates: publicly proposed December 23, 2006<ref name=TimesDec23>{{cite web|last=Doran|first=James|url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9075-2517026,00.html|title=Founder of Wikipedia plans search engine to rival Google|work=The Times |location=London |date=December 23, 2006|accessdate=January 6, 2007 }}</ref> and January 31, 2007,<ref>[http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197003494 Wales: Search Wikia Will Succeed Where Google Cannot], InformationWeek, February 5, 2007. Retrieved July 27, 2007.</ref> private pre-alpha December 24, 2007,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lists.wikia.com/pipermail/search-l/2007-December/000845.html |title=private pre-alpha invites available |accessdate=December 24, 2007 |last=Wales |first=Jimmy |date=December 24, 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/24/AR2007122401567.html |title=Wikia Search Project to Launch January 7, Wales says |accessdate=December 24, 2007 |date=December 24, 2007 |work=The Washington Post}}</ref> toolbar release August 2008, shutdown March–May 2009.<ref>[http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10207896-2.html Wales giving up on Wikia Search]</ref>

| 2008 || January 28 || New web search engine || [[wikipedia:Cuil|Cuil]], a web search engine created by ex-Googlers that uses picture thumbnails to display search results, launches.<ref name="AP1">Liedtke, Michael, ''[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25884709 Ex-Google engineers debut 'Cuil' way to search]'', Associated Press, 28 July 2008, retrieved 13 Dec 2009</ref> It would later shut down on September 17, 2010.<ref>{{cite news|author=Michael Arrington|title=Cuil Goes Down, And We Hear It’s Down For Good|url=http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/17/cuil-goes-down-and-we-hear-its-down-for-good/|publisher=TechCrunch|date=2010-09-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Devindra, Hardawar|title=Supposed Google-killer Cuil’s reign of terror may finally be over|url=http://venturebeat.com/2010/09/17/supposed-google-killer-cuils-reign-of-terror-may-finally-be-over/|publisher=VentureBeat|date=2010-09-17}}</ref><ref name=REF_ID>{{cite news |title=Cuil is Stone Cold – Another 'Google Killer' Bites the Dust |author= |newspaper=SearchEngineWatch |date=2010-09-18 |url=http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/100918-132701 }}</ref>

| 2009 || July 29 || Web search engine consolidation || [[wikipedia:Microsoft|Microsoft]] and [[wikipedia:Yahoo!|Yahoo!]] announce that they have made a ten-year deal in which the [[wikipedia:Yahoo! Search|Yahoo! search engine]] would be replaced by Bing. Yahoo! will get to keep 88% of the revenue from all search ad sales on its site for the first five years of the deal, and have the right to sell adverts on some Microsoft sites. Yahoo! Search will still maintain its own [[wikipedia:user interface|user interface]], but will eventually feature "Powered by Bing™" branding.<ref>{{cite news |title=Microsoft and Yahoo seal web deal |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8174763.stm |date=29 July 2009 <!-- 13:58 UK --> |accessdate=2009-07-29 |publisher=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=REFILE-UPDATE 1-Microsoft, Yahoo in 10-year Web search deal |url=http://www.reuters.com/article/CMPSRV/idUSN2921665320090729 |date=Jul 29, 2009 <!-- 8:27am EDT --> |accessdate=2009-07-29 |author=Tiffany Wu |author2=Derek Caney |publisher= [[wikipedia:Thomson Reuters|Thomson Reuters]] }}</ref> All Yahoo! Search global customers and partners are expected to be transitioned by early 2012.<ref name=YahooHelp>{{cite web|url=http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/search/alliance/alliance-2.html;_ylt=AvrC8b99B5.r4JmW33gA5ChaMnlG|title=When will the change happen? How long will the transition take?|publisher=Yahoo!|date=1 December 2011|accessdate=10 May 2012}}</ref>

| 2009 || August 10 (announced), rollout completed and made live June 8, 2010 || Search algorithm update || Named ''[[wikipedia:Google Search#Google Caffeine|Caffeine]]'', this update is announced on August 10, 2009. It promises faster crawling, expansion of the index, and a near-real-time integration of indexing and ranking.<ref name=moz/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/08/help-test-some-next-generation.html|title = Help test some next-generation infrastructure|date = August 10, 2009|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = Google Webmaster Central Blog}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://mashable.com/2009/08/10/google-caffeine/|title = Google Caffeine: A Detailed Test of the New Google|last = Parr|first = Ben|authorlink = Ben Parr|date = August 10, 2009|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = ''[[wikipedia:Mashable|Mashable]]''}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://techcrunch.com/2009/08/10/caffeine-its-google-on-red-bull-or-something/|title = Caffeine: It's Google On Red Bull, Or Something|last = Siegler|first = MG|date = August 10, 2009|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = ''[[wikipedia:TechCrunch|TechCrunch]]''}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://techcrunch.com/2009/12/28/google-caffeine-faster-search-index/|title = Google Is About To Get Caffeinated With A Faster Search Index|last = Schoenfeld|first = Erick|date = December 28, 2009|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = ''[[wikipedia:TechCrunch|TechCrunch]]''}}</ref> The rollout is made live on June 8, 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html|title = Our new search index: Caffeine|date = June 8, 2010|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = Official Google Blog}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/08/google-caffeine/|title = Caffeine: Google Finally Brews Its New Pot Of Web Results — 50% Fresher|date = June 8, 2010|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = ''[[wikipedia:TechCrunch|TechCrunch]]''|last = Siegler|first = MG}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html|title = Google’s New Indexing Infrastructure "Caffeine" Now Live|last = Fox|first = Vanessa|authorlink = Vanessa Fox|date = June 8, 2010|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = [[wikipedia:Search Engine Land|Search Engine Land]]}}</ref>

| 2010 || September 8 || User experience || Google launches [[wikipedia:Google Instant|Google Instant]], described as a ''search-before-you-type'' feature: as users are typing, Google predicts the user's whole search query (using the same technology as in [[wikipedia:Google Suggest|Google Suggest]], later called the autocomplete feature) ''and'' instantaneously shows results for the top prediction.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/search-now-faster-than-speed-of-type.html|title = Search: now faster than the speed of type|date = September 8, 2010|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = Official Google Blog}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/08/google-instant-its-search-before-you-type/|title = Google Instant: It Searches Before You Type|last = Tsotsis|first = Alexia|date = September 8, 2010|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = ''[[wikipedia:TechCrunch|TechCrunch]]''}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/google-instant-behind-scenes.html|title = Google Instant, behind the scenes |date = September 9, 2010|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = Official Google Blog}}</ref> Google claims that this is estimated to save 2–5 seconds per search query.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/insidesearch/features/instant/about.html|title = About Google Instant |publisher = [[wikipedia:Google|Google]]|accessdate = February 2, 2014}}</ref> SEO commentators initially believe that this will have a major effect on [[wikipedia:search engine optimization|search engine optimization]], but soon revise downward their estimate of the impact.<ref name=moz/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://moz.com/blog/google-instant-fewer-changes-to-seo-than-the-average-algo-update|last = Fishkin|first = Rand|publisher = [[wikipedia:SEOmoz|SEOmoz]]|title = Google Instant: Fewer Changes to SEO than the Average Algo Update|date = September 21, 2010|accessdate = February 2, 2014}}</ref>

| 2010 || November 1 || New web search engine || [[wikipedia:Blekko|Blekko]], a search engine that uses [[wikipedia:slashtag|slashtag]]s to allow people to search in more targeted categories, launches.<ref name=WSJ>{{cite web|url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704477904575586551374128996.html?mod=googlenews_wsj|title = Start-Up Aims at Google: Blekko.com Taps Users to Narrow Results, Avoid Spam Sites|publisher = ''[[wikipedia:Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]]''|date = November 1, 2010|accessdate = February 11, 2014|last = Efrati|first = Amir}}</ref>

| 2011 || June 2 || Webmaster tools || [[wikipedia:Google|Google]], [[wikipedia:Yahoo!|Yahoo!]], and [[wikipedia:Microsoft|Microsoft]] announce [[wikipedia:Schema.org|Schema.org]], a joint initiative that supports a richer range of tags that websites can use to convey better information.<ref name=moz/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://searchengineland.com/schema-org-google-bing-yahoo-unite-79554|title = Schema.org: Google, Bing & Yahoo Unite To Make Search Listings Richer Through Structured Data|last = Fox|first= Vanessa|authorlink = Vanessa Fox|date = June 2, 2011|accessdate = February 2, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/introducing-schemaorg-search-engines.html|title = Introducing schema.org: Search engines come together for a richer web|publisher = Official Google Blog|last = Guha|first = Ramanathan|date = June 2, 2011|accessdate = February 2, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/02/google-yahoo-and-bing-collaborate-on-structured-data-to-make-search-listings-richer/|title = Google, Yahoo, And Bing Collaborate On Structured Data To Make Search Listings Richer|last = Empson|first = Rip|date = June 2, 2011|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = ''[[wikipedia:TechCrunch|TechCrunch]]''}}</ref>

| 2011 || February 23–24 || Search algorithm update || Google launches [[wikipedia:Google Panda|Google Panda]], a major update affecting 12% of search queries. The update continues with the earlier work of cracking down on spam, content farms, [[wikipedia:scraper site|scraper]]s, and websites with a high ad-to-content ratio.<ref name=moz/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/finding-more-high-quality-sites-in.html|title = Finding more high-quality sites in search|publisher = Official Google Blog|date = February 24, 2011|last = Singhal|first = Amit|authorlink = Amit Singhal|last2 = Cutts|first2 = Matt|authorlink2 = Matt Cutts|accessdate = February 2, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wired.com/business/2011/03/the-panda-that-hates-farms/|title = TED 2011: The ‘Panda’ That Hates Farms: A Q&A With Google’s Top Search Engineers|last = Levy|first = Steven|authorlink = Steven Levy|date = March 3, 2011|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = ''[[wikipedia:Wired Magazine|Wired Magazine]]''}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[wikipedia:Search Engine Land|Search Engine Land]]|url=http://searchengineland.com/how-google-panda-places-updates-created-a-rollercoaster-ride-for-iyp-traffic-101683|title=How Google Panda & Places Updates Created A Rollercoaster Ride For IYP Traffic|date = November 21, 2011|accessdate = February 2, 2014}}</ref> The rollout is gradual over several months, and Panda will see many further updates.

| 2012 || January 10 || Search algorithm update, user experience || Google launches [[wikipedia:Search Plus Your World|Search Plus Your World]], a deep integration of one's social data into search.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/search-plus-your-world.html|title = Search, plus Your World|date = January 10, 2012|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = Official Google Blog|last = Singhal|first = Amit|authorlink = Amit Singhal}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://mashable.com/2012/01/10/google-launches-social-search/|title = Google Merges Search and Google+ Into Social Media Juggernaut|last = Ulanoff|first = Lance|date = January 10, 2012|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = ''[[wikipedia:Mashable|Mashable]]''}}</ref> SEO commentators are critical of how the search results favor [[wikipedia:Google+|Google+]] and push it to users, compared to more widely used social networks such as [[wikipedia:Facebook|Facebook]] and [[wikipedia:Twitter|Twitter]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://searchengineland.com/examples-google-search-plus-drive-facebook-twitter-crazy-107554|title = Real-Life Examples Of How Google’s "Search Plus" Pushes Google+ Over Relevancy|last = Sullivan|first = Danny|authorlink = Danny Sullivan (technologist)|date = January 11, 2012|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = [[wikipedia:Search Engine Land|Search Engine Land]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://marketingland.com/twitter-google-wwe-bing-3206|title = Twitter Cries Foul Over Google "@WWE" Search, But Google Still Beats Bing|date = January 11, 2012|accessdate = February 2, 2014|last = Sullivan|first = Danny|authorlink = Danny Sullivan (technologist)|publisher = [[wikipedia:Marketing Land|Marketing Land]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/10/search-google-plus-not-your-world/|title = "Search Plus Your World" Is Just About Google+, Not Your World|date = January 10, 2012|accessdate = February 2, 2014|last = Lardinois|first = Frederic|publisher = ''[[wikipedia:TechCrunch|TechCrunch]]''}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://mashable.com/2012/01/13/google-social-search-too-much-too-soon/|title = Why Google's Social Search Is Too Much, Too Soon|last = Kessler|first = Sarah|date = January 13, 2012|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = ''[[wikipedia:Mashable|Mashable]]''}}</ref>

| 2012 || April 24 || Search algorithm update || Google launches its "Webspam update" which would soon become known as [[wikipedia:Google Penguin|Google Penguin]].<ref name=moz/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/04/another-step-to-reward-high-quality.html|title = Another step to reward high-quality sites|last = Cutts|first = Matt|authorlink = Matt Cutts|date = April 24, 2012|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = Inside Search: The official Google Search blog}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://searchengineland.com/the-penguin-update-googles-webspam-algorithm-gets-official-name-119623|title = The Penguin Update: Google’s Webspam Algorithm Gets Official Name|last = Sullivan|first = Danny|authorlink = Danny Sullivan (technologist)|date = April 26, 2012|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = [[wikipedia:Search Engine Land|Search Engine Land]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://searchengineland.com/penguin-update-recovery-tips-advice-119650|title = Google Penguin Update Recovery Tips & Advice|last = Sullivan|first = Danny|authorlink = Danny Sullivan (technologist)|date = April 26, 2012|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = [[wikipedia:Search Engine Land|Search Engine Land]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://searchengineland.com/google-talks-penguin-update-recover-negative-seo-120463|title = Two Weeks In, Google Talks Penguin Update, Ways To Recover & Negative SEO|last = Sullivan|first = Danny|authorlink = Danny Sullivan (technologist)|date = May 10, 2012|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = [[wikipedia:Search Engine Land|Search Engine Land]]}}</ref>

| 2012 || May 10 || User experience || Microsoft announces a redesign of its [[wikipedia:Bing (search engine)|Bing]] search engine that includes "Sidebar", a social feature that searches users' social networks for information relevant to the search query.<ref>{{cite web|last=Goldman|first=David|title=Bing fires at Google with new social search|url=http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/10/technology/bing-redesign/index.htm?source=cnn_bin|publisher=CNN Money|accessdate=10 May 2012|date=10 May 2012}}</ref>

| 2012 || May 16 || Search algorithm update || Google starts rolling out [[wikipedia:Knowledge Graph|Knowledge Graph]], used by Google internally to store semantic relationships between objects. Google now begins displaying supplemental information about objects related to search queries on the side.<ref name=moz/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/introducing-knowledge-graph-things-not.html|title = Introducing the Knowledge Graph: things, not strings|last = Singhal|first= Amit|date = May 16, 2012|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = The Official Google Blog}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://searchengineland.com/google-launches-knowledge-graph-121585|title = Google Launches Knowledge Graph To Provide Answers, Not Just Links|last = Sullivan|first = Danny|date = May 16, 2012|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = [[wikipedia:Search Engine Land|Search Engine Land]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/16/google-just-got-a-whole-lot-smarter-launches-its-knowledge-graph/|title = Google Just Got A Whole Lot Smarter, Launches Its Knowledge Graph|last = Lardinois|first = Frederic|date = May 16, 2012|accessdate = February 2, 2014|publisher = ''[[wikipedia:TechCrunch|TechCrunch]]''}}</ref>

| 2013 || August 21–22 (approximate date for rollout), September 26 (announcement) || Search algorithm update || Google releases [[wikipedia:Google Hummingbird|Google Hummingbird]], a core algorithm update that may enable more semantic search and more effective use of the [[wikipedia:Knowledge Graph|Knowledge Graph]] in the future.<ref name=moz/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://searchengineland.com/google-hummingbird-172816|title = FAQ: All About The New Google "Hummingbird" Algorithm|date = September 26, 2013|last = Sullivan|first = Danny|authorlink = Danny Sullivan (technologist)|publisher = [[wikipedia:Search Engine Land|Search Engine Land]]|accessdate = February 2, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.seroundtable.com/google-update-17268.html|title = Some Reports Of An August 21/22 Google Update|publisher = [[wikipedia:Search Engine Roundtable|Search Engine Roundtable]]|date = August 23, 2013|last = Schwartz|first = Barry|authorlink = Barry Schwartz (technologist)|accessdate = February 2, 2014}}</ref>

* [[wikipedia:Timeline of Google Search|Timeline of Google Search]]

[[wikipedia:Category:Computing timelines|Web search engines]][[wikipedia:Category:History of the Internet|Web search engines]]