<s>
WebCrawler	B-Application
is	O
a	O
search	B-Application
engine	I-Application
,	O
and	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
oldest	O
surviving	O
search	B-Application
engines	I-Application
on	O
the	O
web	O
today	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
many	O
years	O
,	O
it	O
operated	O
as	O
a	O
metasearch	B-Application
engine	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
WebCrawler	B-Application
was	O
the	O
first	O
web	B-Application
search	I-Application
engine	I-Application
to	O
provide	O
full	O
text	O
search	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Brian	O
Pinkerton	O
first	O
started	O
working	O
on	O
WebCrawler	B-Application
,	O
which	O
was	O
originally	O
a	O
desktop	O
application	O
,	O
on	O
January	O
27	O
,	O
1994	O
at	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Washington	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
WebCrawler	B-Application
launched	O
on	O
April	O
21	O
,	O
1994	O
,	O
with	O
more	O
than	O
4,000	O
different	O
websites	O
in	O
its	O
database	O
and	O
on	O
November	O
14	O
,	O
1994	O
,	O
WebCrawler	B-Application
served	O
its	O
1	O
millionth	O
search	O
query	O
for	O
"	O
nuclear	O
weapons	O
design	O
and	O
research	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
December	O
1	O
,	O
1994	O
,	O
WebCrawler	B-Application
acquired	O
two	O
sponsors	O
,	O
DealerNet	O
and	O
Starwave	O
,	O
which	O
provided	O
money	O
to	O
keep	O
WebCrawler	B-Application
operating	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Starting	O
on	O
October	O
3	O
,	O
1995	O
,	O
WebCrawler	B-Application
was	O
fully	O
supported	O
by	O
advertising	O
,	O
but	O
separated	O
the	O
adverts	O
from	O
search	B-Application
results	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
June	O
1	O
,	O
1995	O
,	O
America	O
Online	O
(	O
AOL	O
)	O
acquired	O
WebCrawler	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Starting	O
in	O
April	O
1996	O
,	O
WebCrawler	B-Application
also	O
included	O
the	O
human-edited	O
internet	O
guide	O
GNN	O
Select	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
also	O
under	O
AOL	O
ownership	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
April	O
1	O
,	O
1997	O
,	O
Excite	B-Application
acquired	O
WebCrawler	B-Application
from	O
AOL	O
for	O
$12.3	O
million	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
WebCrawler	B-Application
received	O
a	O
redesign	O
on	O
June	O
16	O
,	O
1997	O
,	O
adding	O
WebCrawler	B-Application
Shortcuts	O
,	O
which	O
suggested	O
alternative	O
links	O
to	O
material	O
related	O
to	O
a	O
search	O
topic	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
WebCrawler	B-Application
was	O
maintained	O
by	O
Excite	B-Application
as	O
a	O
separate	O
search	B-Application
engine	I-Application
with	O
its	O
own	O
database	O
until	O
2001	O
,	O
when	O
it	O
started	O
using	O
Excite	B-Application
's	O
own	O
database	O
,	O
effectively	O
putting	O
an	O
end	O
to	O
WebCrawler	B-Application
as	O
an	O
independent	O
search	B-Application
engine	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Later	O
that	O
year	O
,	O
Excite	B-Application
(	O
then	O
called	O
Excite	B-Application
@Home	O
)	O
went	O
bankrupt	O
and	O
WebCrawler	B-Application
was	O
bought	O
by	O
InfoSpace	O
in	O
2001	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Pinkerton	O
,	O
WebCrawler	B-Application
's	O
creator	O
,	O
led	O
the	O
Amazon	O
A9.com	O
search	O
division	O
as	O
of	O
2012	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
July	O
2016	O
,	O
InfoSpace	O
was	O
sold	O
by	O
parent	O
company	O
Blucora	O
to	O
OpenMail	O
for	O
$45	O
million	O
,	O
putting	O
WebCrawler	B-Application
under	O
the	O
ownership	O
of	O
OpenMail	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2018	O
,	O
WebCrawler	B-Application
was	O
redesigned	O
from	O
scratch	O
and	O
the	O
logo	O
of	O
the	O
search	B-Application
engine	I-Application
was	O
changed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
WebCrawler	B-Application
was	O
highly	O
successful	O
early	O
on	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
the	O
second	O
most	O
visited	O
website	O
on	O
the	O
internet	O
in	O
February	O
1996	O
,	O
but	O
it	O
quickly	O
dropped	O
below	O
rival	O
search	B-Application
engines	I-Application
and	O
directories	O
such	O
as	O
Yahoo	O
!,	O
Infoseek	O
,	O
Lycos	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Excite	B-Application
in	O
1997	O
.	O
</s>
