Journey of Web Search Engines: Milestones, Challenges & Innovations

Abstract

Past few decades have witnessed an informat ion big bang in the form of World Wide Web leading to gigantic repository of heterogeneous data. A humble journey that started with the network connection between few co mputers at ARPANET p roject has reached to a level wherein almost all the co mputers and other communication devices of the world have joined together to form a huge global in formation network that makes availab le most of the information related to every possible heterogeneous domain. Not only the managing and indexing of th is repository is a big concern but to provide a quick answer to the user's query is also of critical importance. A mazingly, rather miraculously, the task is being done quite efficiently by the current web search engines. This miracle has been possible due to a series of mathematical and technological innovations continuously being carried out in the area of search techniques. This paper takes an overview of search engine evolution from primitive to the present.