Nothing new about search

I was thinking earlier this week about search and how there's nothing new about keywords (see "Keywords vs natural language").

Keywords aren't the only thing about search that predate search, and the web, and computers. Consider search optimisation - we've had that since some plumber hit on calling his firm "Aardvark Plumbers" to secure first place in his local Yellow Pages and his competitor changed to "A1 Plumbers" the week after. There's also the apocryphal tale of the taxi firm owner (that I can't find a single reference to, so apocryphal is it) who listed dozens of taxi businesses with names like "Any Taxis" and "You Choose Taxis" so that when out-of-towners called directory inquiries for a cab and were asked which firm they wanted their first answer would obliged the operator to give one of the wily entrepreneurs' numbers.

There's nothing new about search optimisation. Or keywords. Is there anything about search that's new at all?