The internet world takes SEO for granted today, but it was only 22 years ago this month that two university students at Stanford developed the first working model search engine that used algorithms to track down keywords and particular websites.
Sergey Brin and Larry Page were interested in using higher mathematics, specifically algebraic formulas like algorithms, to track down information on the internet to use for their term papers. Like all other college students, they had struggled over the years with tedious hours at the college library looking up references and reading up on particular areas of knowledge. But with the explosion of the internet, the two students decided to try accessing this wealth of information automatically instead of plodding from one site to another looking for data for their research papers.
It wasn’t long before the two came up with PageRank to analyze inbound links as a way to find reliable information. Brin, whose parents came from what was then the Soviet Union and had always encouraged him to look to hard science, such as mathematics, to find solutions to everyday problems, was the first to realize that the concept of key words could lead to amazing simplicity in online research. Page then realized that the SEO concept was a marketing bonanza in the coming online sales landslide, and so the two founded what became GOOGLE in 1998.