Popular Search Engines in the 90’s: Then and Now

In the heydays of the Internet – when Google wasn’t the only search engine people used to seek information on the web – web surfers (I bet you haven’t heard that term in a while) had several options for finding what they needed on the net. This article harks back to the days of AltaVista, HotBot, and when Ask was still Ask Jeeves. You’ll see how the web designs of ubiquitous search engines of the past have evolved through time.

Put your nostalgia hats on as we travel back to the ancient times of the Internet! And I bet after looking at some of these designs, you understand why effective web design is so important.

HotBot

1997

1999

2009

Excite

1996

1998

2009

WebCrawler

1996

1998

2009

Ask Jeeves (now Ask.com)

1999

2009

Yahoo!

1996

2009

The future

Google

1998

2009

Dogpile

1998

2009

AltaVista

1998

2009

Lycos

1996

1998

2009

MSN Search (now Bing)

1999

2009

AOL Search

1999

2009

Infoseek (now Go.com)

1997

2009

Netscape Search

1999

2009

MetaCrawler

1996

1998

2009

All the Web

1999

2009

What was your favorite search engine (before Google)? How did search engines affect you in the early days of the web?

Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments. * Screenshots courtesy of the Internet Archive: Wayback Machine

Related Content

• 9 Promising Free Web Analytics Tools
• 12 Useful Web Tools for Designers
• 12 Excellent Tools for Picking a Domain Name
• Related categories: User Interface and Web Design

Real Advice

WebFX specializes in creating clean, organized, and professional websites – and we have a full team of award-winning designers to work with you. Take a look at the real advice we gave to hotels about effective web design.