Are you interested in ancient search engine history like which search engines were competing for web dominance back in 2001? Well, I am, anyway And I was totally fascinated by a little tool I found the other day, which works like a search engine industry time machine.

This free, web based tool is published by Bruce Clay, INC. and is called Search Engine Relationship Chart. When you enter, you see today’s search engine scene (well, the chart was updated in April 2006). Google and Yahoo are shown at the center of their empires and arrows mark the flow of search results, directory results and paid results.

There is also a slider, which you find over the chart. The axis marks the history of search engines from 2001 until today and the fun begins when you start moving along this axis, going back in search engine history.

It is interesting to be reminded of how complex the image used to be back then. It is also sort of sad to run across old favorites like Northern Light and AllTheWeb who are no longer with us (not as stand alone search engines with a unique index).

Feeling nostalgic? Have a look at the Search Engine Relationship Chart.