Difference between revisions of "Search engines"

Revision as of 18:40, 27 January 2023

A search engine is an information retrieval system that, when prompted, finds information stored in a database or computer system. Search engines generally output the information in a list formation with each result, commonly called a hit, containing a link to a site as well as a few lines of the site’s content indicating why the result was retrieved. Search engines have been designed to increase the speed and ease with which one can find information and to increase the amount of information about a topic that one can have access to at a time. Search engines use various mathematical and machine-learning techniques along with data mining to produce their results. They provide the user with many benefits but also raise ethical concerns regarding privacy, censorship, and security.

History of search engines

While the concept of information retrieval has been around for a long time, the first search engine for content files, the ARCHIE, was created by Alan Emtage ^[1] in December 1990. Built using FTP, file transfer protocol, ARCHIE enabled users to upload and retrieve files along with searching for files. In 1994, WebCrawler ^[2] became the first widely used search engine. It was also the first to fully index the content of a web page and make all of the words searchable. One of the primary investors in WebCrawler was Paul Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft. In 1994, Yahoo was founded and quickly became popular due to its packaging. In 1998, Google popularized enabling the searching of terms and search engine optimization (SEO) through an algorithm called PageRank. Search engines primarily drive profits through advertisements and each host algorithms for optimizing the advertisement experience for users. Soon after, the search engine business became increasingly profitable and enticing to others.

Companies

Unlike the earlier days of search engines, the market now has hundreds of search engines that are popular for different purposes and in different places. For example, in the United States, India, and the United Kingdom, Google is by far the most popular search engine while in China ^[3], Baidu is the most popular search engine with the majority market share and compliance with the government’s censorship laws. In Japan and Taiwan ^[4], Yahoo is the most popular and controls the largest market share. Some people prefer eco-engines that claim to be carbon neutral as a way to oppose the large quantities of energy that engines take to run.

Google

The Google search engine is the most widely used search engine in the world. It was founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998 in California. It is also Google’s most popular product. A vast majority of Google’s revenue comes from ads and in Q3 of 2022, almost 60% of Google’s $69.1 billion revenue came from search ads alone ^[5]. Google search controls over 78% ^[6] of the market and continues to be the common case and point when people talk about tech giants. Google search uses search engine optimization to provide end users with a clean, and easy-to-use, interface with a personalized experience while retrieving as robust and useful results as it can.

Bing

With the second highest market share in the United States, Bing is the second largest search engine. Bing is a Microsoft product launched by then-CEO Steve Ballmer in 2009 ^[7] in response to the rise of Google. While Bing may not be the most used engine, it is still quite expansive operating highly in five continents and partnering with Yahoo so that Yahoo search traffic is exclusively served ^[8] by Bing Ads. There are some differences in search algorithms as Bing has received criticism for appearing to promote misinformation more than its competitors ^[9]. Bing apparently pushed articles about conspiracy theories and videos on platforms like TikTok higher in their search results than other engines. Regardless, as it is the default search engine for Microsoft’s Edge and Explorer, it is quite widely utilized.

Yahoo! Search

Yahoo is one of the 11 most accessed websites in the world and while it has a smaller market share than Google, it competes more directly with Bing. Yahoo was also made by Jerry Yang and David Filo in 1995 before either. Yahoo has gone through partnerships with both Bing and Google. Since 2011, Yahoo has worked with Bing to power its internet search and from late 2015-2018 it briefly also worked with Google. Yahoo search is the default search engine for Firefox browsers in the US.

Baidu

Baidu is a search engine developed by Robin Li and Eric Xu based in Beijing, China. It controls less than 2% ^[10] market share globally but over 75% ^[11] market share in China. Baidu hosts services exclusively in Chinese. Li previously worked for IDD Information Services where, in 1996, he developed the RankDex ^[12] site-sourcing algorithm which used hyperlinks to measure the quality of the indexed websites and ranked them according to popularity and quality. This predated Google’s PageRank and Larry Page, founder of Google, referenced Li’s work in his patent ^[13] for PageRank. RankDex’s technology was later used for Baidu’s search engine. Baidu is a private company but is complaint with local laws and China’s censorship as directed by the Chinese government. In November 2022, Baidu was rated non-compliant ^[14] with the United Nations Global Compact due to issues with respect to complacency to human rights issues. Baidu is the default browser for Microsoft Edge in China.

Ecosia

Ecosia is a German search engine developed by Christian Kroll with the mission of being carbon neutral ^[15]. Ecosia achieves its carbon goals by planting a tree based on search traffic. Ecosia sends about 80% ^[16] of its profits to environmental efforts. While the company does not often directly plant trees, it funds organizations powering environmental efforts including planting trees in various areas. Ecosia also targets areas where biodiversity is at risk. It also has its own projects such as a solar farm. Ecosia is powered by Microsoft and search and advertisements are both powered by Bing. Therefore, the profits it uses are derived from the same advertisement algorithms used by Bing. Ecosia can be added to a browser through an extension.

Ethical implications

1. ↑ https://daily.jstor.org/alan-emtage-first-internet-search-engine/
2. ↑ https://carlhendy.com/history-of-search-engines/#lycos
3. ↑ https://gkbooks.in/top-10-search-engines/#Search_Engine_Popularity_by_Country
4. ↑ https://geography.oii.ox.ac.uk/age-of-internet-empires/
5. ↑ https://www.oberlo.com/statistics/how-does-google-make-money#:~:text=Google%20revenue%20breakdown%20(Q3%202022,%25)%20was%20from%20search%20ads.
6. ↑ https://ntelt.cikd.ca/top-5-search-engines-used-in-daily-life/
7. ↑ https://ntelt.cikd.ca/top-5-search-engines-used-in-daily-life/
8. ↑ https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/post/january-2019/microsoft-and-verizon-media-strengthen-search-partnership
9. ↑ https://fsi.stanford.edu/news/bing-search-disinformation
10. ↑ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1219413/market-share-held-by-baidu-worldwide/
11. ↑ https://www.searchenginejournal.com/top-chinese-search-engines/456497/
12. ↑ https://www.rankdex.com/about.html
13. ↑ https://patents.google.com/patent/US6285999B1/en
14. ↑ https://www.reuters.com/article/china-esg-downgrade-idUSL4N32320Q
15. ↑ https://www.ecosia.org/
16. ↑ https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/technology/how-ethical-search-engine-ecosia