WebCrawler – search engine operating for 30 years

WebCrawler is a search engine that has been active since April 1994, making it one of the oldest search engines still in operation. Initially developed by Brian Pinkerton as a desktop application at the University of Washington, WebCrawler was the first search engine to offer full-text search capabilities. Over the years, it underwent various ownership changes, including being acquired by AOL in 1995 and later by Excite in 1997. Eventually, WebCrawler was integrated into Excite's database in 2001, marking the end of its independent search engine status. In 2018, the search engine underwent a redesign and rebranding. Despite its early success, WebCrawler faced challenges with server overload and competition from other search engines like Yahoo!, Infoseek, Lycos, and Excite. Today, WebCrawler is owned by System1, formerly known as OpenMail, after being sold by InfoSpace in 2016.