Web search engine Overture (which owned AlltheWeb and AltaVista) in 2003. Yahoo! switched to Google's search engine until 2004, when it launched its own search engine based on the combined technologies of its acquisitions. Microsoft first launched MSN Search in the fall of 1998 using search results from Inktomi. In early 1999 the site began to display listings from Looksmart, blended with results from Inktomi. For a short time in 1999, MSN Search used results from AltaVista instead. In 2004, Microsoft began a transition to its own search technology, powered by its own web crawler (called msnbot). Microsoft's rebranded search engine, Bing, was
Search engine (computing) Search engine (computing) A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called "hits". Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information which must be consulted, akin to other techniques for managing information overload. The most public, visible form of a search engine is a Web search engine which searches for information on the World Wide Web. Search engines provide an interface to a group of items that enables users to