Search Engine

Origin

The search engine was originally an underground project; only with the widespread adoption of the search engine as a tool did it manage to gradually establish itself as economically relevant and position itself accordingly. What began as an underground tool evolved into the search engine as a universal portal into the www, and from a single one came dozens, later hundreds, of different search engines with vastly varying performance and quality. From a small search engine designed to selectively read and organize web content, powerful apparatuses for business and everyday life emerged, thereby not only turning the internet upside down but also creating new professions, sales markets, and marketing strategies.

Search Engine Marketing

Search engines are tools, not just for browsing the web; search engines are above all instruments of market positioning in competition. Anyone who cannot be found via a search engine struggles with acquiring new customers in an era where everyone uses the search engine day after day to get informed. Search engines have become as commonplace as the internet itself, and ranking in the largest search engines tells us how important we are. Yet search engines also represent power, not just for all those who use a search engine and not just for all those who want or need to be listed in one, but primarily for the operators of search engines. Search engines generate multi-billion-dollar revenues worldwide, and everyone profits from that.

Consequences

What would happen if there were suddenly no more search engines? If one search engine after another suddenly disappeared? Just the outage of the currently largest search engine for only a few hours would cause damage worth several million worldwide, it is estimated. This fact alone reveals how powerful search engines are, what they can accomplish, and in which direction every good search engine will develop. Yet the development and complexity of search engines and the technology behind them also has a downside. The race to cram the best and most frequent keywords into a single sentence is fully underway, and leads to texts being mangled and made unreadable, just so as many keywords as possible appear in them. And what good is a text that can be found instantly via a search engine but can no longer be read by anyone?

Private and Professional Use

Search engines also play an increasingly important role in private use. The more complex our computers become, the more difficult it becomes to find files. So-called desktop search tools tackle this problem. They locate files within seconds and – depending on the program – also emails, appointments, and calendar entries. Additionally, they offer the ability to view files and sometimes even edit them. In doing so, they render conventional programs unnecessary, at least for minor changes. Many companies also rely on this, among others in the VDI sector, that professional desktop searches like Lookeen function properly.