Digital marketing has seen a dramatic rise over the last 20 years, powering the growth of some of the biggest global companies. Each year saw numerous changes, acquisitions and innovations. This blog attempts to document the key events. If I have missed a key milestone, please comment below and I will add and evolve this blog over time.
1994
Yahoo is established. Yahoo originally was a directory of other web sites as opposed to a searchable index of pages. By the end of 1994 Yahoo! had already received one million hits.
Lycos went public with a catalogue of 54,000 documents. Ranked first on Netscape’s list of search engines by finding the most hits on the word “surf”
Infoseek is established
AltaVista delivers the Internet’s first Web Index
1995
Yahoo was incorporated
Infoseek is launched – who originally hoped to charge for searching.
The MSN network of Internet services debuts in the United States.
Lycos had identified 394,000 documents
Netscape decides on Infoseek for their default search, which gave Infoseek major exposure.
Open Text Launched
Megallan is launched
Excite is launched
LookSmart is founded
The term “Search engine optimisation” is added to the dictionary
1996
Yahoo raise $33.8 million dollars by selling 2.6 million shares at $13 each
Ask Jeeves founded by David Warthen. The new search engine was to allow searcher to type questions in natural language in order to get results. The Jeeves character, based on the butler in the Jeeves and Wooster books by P.G. Wodehouse
Lycos claim to index over 60 million documents – more than any other web search engine.
AltaVista partner with Yahoo!
Excite buys Megellan and WebCrawler.
1997
BackRub search engine (originally created by Larry Page and Sergey Brin) re branded to Google.
Snap is launched by CNET
Open Text ends its operation.
AOL Search launched, powered by Excite (later to be powered by Google)
1998
“PC Magazine” reports that Google “has an uncanny knack for returning extremely relevant results” and recognises Google as the search engine of choice in the Top 100 Web Sites for 1998.
Ask Jeeves for Kids (AJKids.com) was released.
Direct hit Launched
Google logo redesigned
1999
Yahoo! launch Yahoo! Messenger
Google completes a $25-million round of equity funding.
Ask Jeeves revenues increased and completes its initial public offering of stock
AltaVista announce the addition of relevant paid placements. The first sponsored placements on search results. The keywords are auctioned every two weeks.
It is reported that in 1999, the market share per search engine was Google <1%, Yahoo 55.81%, MSN 1.25%, Lycos 5.05%, AltaVista 11.18%
Google logo is tweaked (colours)
2000
Google AdWords launches with 350 customers. The self-service ad program promises online activation with a credit card, keyword targeting and performance feedback.
Google launch the Google Toolbar
Yahoo! stocks closed at an all-time high of $118.75 a share.
Yahoo! and Google signed an agreement which would make Google power searches made on yahoo.com.
Ask Jeeves Purchase Direct hit
2001
Google launch Image Search, offering access to 250 million images.
Yahoo! stocks closed at an all-time low of $8.11.
Ask Jeeves purchased Piscataway.
Megallan closed in April
Infoseek closed early 2001
Snap closed early 2001
The top gaining queries in 2001 were 1) Nostradamus, 2) CNN, 3) World Trade Center
2002
Google overhaul Adwords. The new Adwords includes a new cost-per-click pricing, a set of APIs, and a partnership with AOL.
Froogle launched (later called Google Product Search).
Direct hit formally closed
The top gaining queries in 2002 were 1) Spiderman, 2) Shakira, 3) Winter Olympics
LinkedIn Founded
2003
Google launches its content-targeted advertising service
The first major SEO algorithm change is announced. The “Boston” update as it was announced at SES Boston
The Boston update was quickly followed by the Cassandra update which focused on basic link quality issues and hidden text
Followed by the Dominic, Esmerelda Fritz and Florida update. The Florida update saw the biggest change with many sites losing their ranking
AltaVista was bought by Overture Services, Inc.
Yahoo acquired Overture Services, Inc (Pay Per click advertising solution)
The most popular queries in 2003 were 1) Britney Spears, 2) Harry Potter 3) Matrix
Search Engine Global market share.
Year
Google
Yahoo!
MSN???
AOL Search
Others
2003
33%
24%
19%
12%
12%
2004
Google IPO – raising €1.67 billion in capital
Google introduce Google Local, offering relevant local business listings, maps, and directions.
Yahoo! dropped Google-powered results and returned to using its own technology to provide search results.
Ask Jeeves acquire Interactive Search Holdings
Zuckerberg starts Facebook
The most popular queries in 2004 were 1) Paris Hilton, 2) Qantas, 3) Australian Idol
Search Engine Global market share.
Year
Google
Yahoo!
MSN
Ask
AOL Search
Others
2004
35%
32%
16%
2%
9%
2%
2005
Google Maps goes live.
Personalised search based on user history and search behaviour dramatically effected the search results Google delivered on their SERPS
Google acquire Urchin, a web analytics tool
Yahoo! and Microsoft announced that Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger would become interoperable.
Microsoft unveils adCenter which allow clients to manage paid search listings on MSN together with more than 30 other leading search engines.
IAC/InterActiveCorp agreed to acquire Ask Jeeves for 1.85 billion dollars.
Search Engine Global market share.
The top gaining queries in 2005 were 1) Myspace, 2) Ares, 3) Baidu
It is reported that in the UK £768.3m was spent on PPC (paid for listings) in 2005. A market share of 56.2% of online advertising
Year
Google
Yahoo!
MSN
Ask
AOL Search
2005
36.9 %
30.4 %
15.7 %
6.0 %
–
2006
Google release Google Trends
Google completes its acquisition of YouTube.
Google introduce its BPF (best practice funding) agency incentive
Microsoft adCenter is launched – replacing Overture on MSN Search
Microsoft and Facebook announce its partnership.
Jeeves the butler was phased out. Ask Jeeves is renamed as “Ask.com”
AdWords Editor was released January 24, 2006
Search Engine Global market share.
Twitter is born
The top search queries in 2006 were 1) Bebo, 2) Myspace, 3) World Cup
It is reported that in the UK £1,165.6m was spent on PPC (paid for listings) in 2006. A market share of 57.8% of online advertising
Year
Google
Yahoo!
MSN
Ask
AOL Search
2006
44.2 %
28 %
13.1 %
5.1 %
5.6 %
2007
Google Hot Trends is launched
Google Street View debuts in Google Maps in the U.S.
Google introduce universal search which brought traditional links with news, video, images and map listings
Ask3D launched
Microsoft acquire aQuantive for a reported $US 6 billion
Yahoo!’s Search Marketing’s Panama is released, providing features such as “Quality score”, Geo-targeting, Ad Testing, Campaign Budgeting, and Campaign scheduling
The fastest rising queries in 2007 were 1) iPhone, 2) Badoo, 3) Facebook
It is reported that in the UK £762.3m (H1) and £1,619.1m (H2) was spent on PPC (paid for listings) in 2007. A market share of 57.12 (H1) and 57.6% (H2) of online advertising
Search Engine Global market share.
Year
Google
Yahoo!
MSN
Ask
AOL Search
2007
55.2 %
23.5 %
12.3 %
4.7 %
4.4 %
2008
Google complete the acquisition deal for DoubleClick.
Google allow paid advertisers to “bid” on competitor brands causing a lot of frustration and anger for large brand owners.
Google now allow paid gambling ads
Google now allow paid ads selling alcohol
Google Website Optimizer comes out of beta
Google introduce the Display Ad Builder
Google introduce “Google Suggest” which would provide alternative search terms to use if the SERP did not return what you were looking for.
Microsoft Corporation made an unsolicited bid to acquire Yahoo! for US$44.6 billion.
Yahoo! subsequently formally rejected the bid.
The fastest rising queries in 2008 were 1) Sarah Palin, 2) Beijing 2008, 3) Facebook login
It is reported that in the UK £1,986.9m was spent on PPC (paid for listings) in 2008. A market share of 59.3% of online advertising
Search Engine Global market share.
Year
Google
Yahoo!
MSN
Ask
AOL Search
2008
59.8 %
21.3 %
9.4 %
4.7 %
4.8 %
2009
Google introduce location extensions for PPC adverts
Google introduce paid for product listing adverts
The Google SERP became “Real time”, introducing more news feeds for reliable sources. Twitter was also integrated
Yahoo logo change
Bing was unveiled? replacing MSN and starts to power the search results on Yahoo. Making it easier for advertisers to manage campaigns across Google, Yahoo and Bing.
Bing Yahoo partnership begins
The top five most searched for terms of the year within the UK were 1) Facebook 2) BBC 3) YouTube 4) Hotmail 5) Games
Search Engine Global market share.
Year
Google
Yahoo!
Bing
Ask
AOL Search
2009
65.6 %
17.5 %
10.3 %
3.8 %
2.8 %
2010
Google introduce Ad Sitelinks for PPC adverts
Google introduce a new match type – broad match modifier
Google Instant launched, which delivered the search result page whilst you typed your search query. This brought changes to our PPC campaign best practice
Search Engine Global market share.
Google maps turned into Google places
The May Day algorithm was released which focused on long tail keywords
The Caffeine algorithm release focused on making Google’s results more relevant and fresh
Year
Google
Yahoo!
Bing
Ask
AOL Search
2010
66.1 %
16.7 %
11.2 %
3.7 %
2.3 %
2011
Google launched Google+ their social media platform
Google introduce “instant previews” for PPC adverts
Google panda algorithm update throughout 2011 sees dramatic changes in site rankings
Search Engine Global market share.
The top five searches of the year in the UK were 1) Royal Wedding 2) Iphone 5 3) Fifa 12 4) Groupon 5) Ipad 2
Google +1 button is introduced to organic and paid adverts, impacting rankings and quality score performance
Year
Google
Yahoo!
Bing
Ask
AOL Search
2011
65.6 %
16.1 %
13.1 %
3.4 %
1.6 %
2012
Google introduce enhanced Sitelinks for PPC adverts
Google introduce Dynamic search ads
Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ becomes first YouTube video to reach 1 billion views
The top 5 searches of the year in the UK were 1) Euro 2012 2) Olympic tickets 3) Whitney Houston 4) Kate Middleton 5) April Jones
Search Engine Global market share.
2012 was the year of the Penguin. Google’s latest algorithm change for organic listings
Year
Google
Yahoo!
Bing
Ask
AOL Search
2012
66.4 %
12.8 %
15 %
3.2 %
1.7 %
2013
Google introduce Enhanced campaigns, enforcing advertisers to include all devices (desktop, mobile and tablet)
Search Engine Global market share
The top 5 searches of the year were 1) Paul Walker 2) Iphone 5s 3) Royal Baby 4) Cory Monteith 5) Oscar Pistorius
Google announce the hummingbird algorithm change
Year
Google
Yahoo!
Bing
Ask
AOL Search
2013
67.1 %
11.8 %
16.9 %
2.27 %
1.6 %
2014
HTTP/SSL Update – giving preference to secure sites
Rise in wearable tech
Growth in social TV and duel screening
Google Analytics no longer show keyword information – replaced with “not provided”
Google Buys Nest Labs
2015
Data protection becomes a big deal for internet companies with large hacks on companies such as Ashley Madison
Ad blocking becomes popular
Google unveils walking, running robot dog
If I have missed any important milestones please leave a comment and I will include it.
To be continued.
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