Alternatives to Google like AltaVista just couldnt keep up with the rapid changes of the early 2000s, eventually shutting down one by one. It wasnt due to a lack of innovation either, as older search engines like Infoseek were the first to introduce features like targeted advertising. Some search engines even played by different rules, favoring conversational question based search models instead of the keyword oriented searches you see on sites like Google today. Ask Jeeves was the poster child...
