Google is now a global powerhouse in the field of online services, so huge that it is hard to imagine that it was not created as a result of some Big Bang or other similarly spectacular event.
Like every brand, it had its humble beginnings, lean years, and a period of trials—both those that achieved spectacular success and those that are usually preceded by the phrase, "Hold my beer." So today, we'll tell you a bit about the history of the Google brand and its gradual rise to the hearts and browsers of internet users.
Google History – Where Does the Name Come From?
The creation of the company known as Google was the result of three main elements: American Larry Page, Russian-born Sergey Brin, and… a Czech mistake. When searching for a name for their company, the men drew from whatever was at hand, and most importantly, Page's college roommate at the time.
He came up with the idea that the ideal name for a product designed to organize unimaginable numbers of websites would be a large number. Million or billion, however, apparently didn't sound impressive enough, so he suggested calling the company googol. Googol refers to a truly enormous number, a staggering 10 to the hundredth power.
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However, as luck would have it, Larry Page, while checking whether such a domain was free, made a typo (it cannot be ruled out that the mathematics in the form of percentages had a hand in it) and entered "google", which, as a non-existent word, was free.
The delighted founding father purchased the domain, and it stuck. The error was discovered very quickly, the very next day, but the Google address was already taken, so the gentlemen decided to stick with the name they had chosen by chance.
The university beginnings of the Google search engine
Before this momentous event, however, what we call Google was also developing, just under different names. So let's go back a bit to see the true beginnings of the world's most popular search engine.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin met while studying at Stanford University, and rumor has it they didn't like each other one bit. Initial animosity quickly turned to friendship, and in 1995, the two men decided to create a project that was innovative at the time – a system that would determine the value of individual websites and, after a user entered a search query, create a list of them, from the most significant to the least significant.
The tool was initially called Backrub. This name comes from the main and initially only factor taken into account when ranking websites : backlinks.
The method of compiling the list was therefore very transparent – the more websites linked to a given site (and therefore recommended it), the higher the site 's search engine ranking. While the tool itself was met with enthusiastic response, its name received a much colder reception, so the search engine was renamed PageRank.
It was patented under this name, but eventually the gentlemen changed the name once again – this time to the well-known Google.
What were the beginnings of the Google search engine like?
Initially, Page and Brin developed their project at the university, but when this became difficult due to the distrust of university computer scientists, they moved to where, as is widely known, the best ideas are born – the garage.
Renting the research space was the first step in the company's development—and undoubtedly a great one for humanity. It was made possible by its first major investor, Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun.
He invested $100,000 in the emerging brand, thanks to which in 1998 the men officially registered the company and began operating outside the walls of Stanford University.
The garage where one of the most complex algorithms in the world was hatched initially contained only the most essential things: a carpet, a ping-pong table, and some computers.
According to various sources, the design of the first Google headquarters was a tribute to saturated, bright colors of all kinds – this love of vivid colors is still visible today not only in Google headquarters, but even in the brand's logo.
Google Top Dog
The following years brought technological advancements, new engineers whose names few people remember, and one dog that everyone remembers. Yoshka belonged to one of the engineers, Urs Hölzle, and was the first four-legged creature to enter Google headquarters.
He was named a Google Top Dog and visited the company arguably more regularly than many of its employees. His appearance was even noted on the brand's official history page. Yoshka was well-known and beloved by employees and even couriers.
At a later stage, when Google moved into its current headquarters, he often appeared in front of one of the company's cafes, which is why, years later, it was named after him.
Googleplex – company headquarters in Mountain View
The headquarters itself is also worth mentioning. The company moved from a garage to a complex in Mountain View, now known as the Googleplex.
Initially, Google only rented some of the space, but as it grew, more and more were needed, until the company eventually purchased the entire 47-square-meter complex. The complex comprises over 20 buildings, meaning employees must travel considerable distances, which is why Google-branded company bikes can be seen everywhere.
At the company's headquarters, what began with a carpet and a ping-pong table naturally expanded into employee attractions. The complex boasts a multitude of rubber balls, foosball tables, several beach volleyball courts, two swimming pools, a mini-golf course, a ball pit, nap chairs, more than a dozen cafes, canteens serving delicacies from around the world, and many other amenities.
An interesting addition, for example, is the hairdressing van, where employees can get their hair done for free. Employees can also eat free of charge at all the restaurants and food trucks located within the complex.
Googleplex is also a place where you can see the eccentric hobbies of the brand's founder, such as a replica of the first private manned spaceship or a tyrannosaurus skeleton.
Work culture at Google
Along with technological development, Google's high organizational culture has also grown, which is clearly visible in the example of employee bonuses.
Google has built a new standard of employee and employer-employer relations. The company is known for allowing significant freedom in both dress and work. It prioritizes free development, relaxed communication, and a friendly atmosphere at every level of the organization.
One of Google's most important business principles is "don't be evil ," which translates to "don't be bad" or "don't do evil." Among the brand's 10 most important maxims, we find one that says you can be serious without a suit.
Hairdressing services at the workplace may seem like a funny idea, but there is a higher idea behind it – since employees spend many hours at the complex, the company wants to save them from wasting time and energy searching for basic services elsewhere.
Employed specialists repay the privileges with creative ideas and effective work – in line with Google's tenth maxim – great is not enough.
Google products
In addition to its flagship product, its search engine, Google has developed other projects over the years, many of which have achieved tremendous success. These include:
- Google Maps – a massive system containing maps and aerial photos, combined with Street View, which includes photos of individual streets, squares, and objects, allowing us to take virtual tours around the world. It is also a navigation tool used by many drivers,
- Google Translate – Google Translate, which was more of a joke some time ago. Today, it's refined to the point where it can produce consistent, logical translations. It now also translates text from photos in real time, transcribes text, even taking into account punctuation, and translates entire websites into different languages.
- Google Chrome – in addition to the search engine, Google also offers a browser for computers and mobile devices with an ever-expanding list of add-ons and extensions,
- YouTube – Google did not design this largest platform for watching movies online, but acquired it in 2006, which was the most expensive transaction in the company's history,
- chromecast – this is a device that allows you to send movies and music from your phone to your TV if you don't have a Smart TV,
- Android – one of the most popular operating systems for mobile devices acquired by Google in 2005,
- gmail – e-mail with a well-developed message filtering algorithm, thanks to which mailboxes are protected against spam,
- Calendar – a tool that allows you to not only plan your own events but also share them with others. Many companies use this system to synchronize and schedule team meetings, recruitment, client meetings, and more.
- Google Drive – cloud storage for texts, photos, videos, presentations, etc., so we always have access to our files,
- Documents, Sheets, Slides (Google Docs) – Office programs that allow you to create content, tables, and presentations and share them with other users. They automatically save a change history, so the owner knows who made changes and when,
- Google Ads – an advertising system that allows companies to promote themselves on the search network, on YouTube, in mobile applications and on over 2 million websites owned by Google advertising partners,
- Google AdSense – a program that allows you to join the Google advertising partner network. Website owners can offer advertising space on their websites and earn money from ads created through Google.
- Google My Business – a tool for creating an electronic business card for your company. This allows search engine and Google Maps users to find the most important company information in one place: name, address, phone number, website, social media, photos, customer reviews, type of services offered, etc.
- Google Analytics A tool that allows you to analyze user behavior on your website. If you implement the Analytics tag on your website, you can access a variety of statistics that demonstrate the effectiveness of your previous activities and help you develop strategies to increase conversions.
- GooglePlay – an online store from which we can download applications with tools, games, music, etc. to our phone,
- Google Pay – a system enabling payments on the Internet and in stationary stores via telephone,
- Google Assistant – an intelligent system that can verbally communicate with mobile device users. It can be used to search for information, save calendar events, shop online, control smart home devices, and recognize objects using its camera. You can also ask Google Assistant questions and issue commands – for example, to sing a song,
- Google Meet – a video communication tool. It includes chat, screen sharing, and presentation capabilities, so it can also be used for remote business or training communications.
Google currently
Today, Google is a massive company employing approximately 100,000 people. It generates billions in revenue and has offices in countries across five continents. It consistently ranks among the world's best employers.
It continues to develop new products designed to make our work easier and provide online entertainment. What else can we expect from this global giant? We'll likely find out soon.
Google History FAQs
Google's history began in the mid-90s at Stanford University as a research project by two students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Initially, the system they created for analyzing links between websites was called BackRub. Because this name was met with lukewarm reception, the search engine was renamed PageRank (and patented under that name), ultimately evolving into the Google we know today.
The name is the result of… pure chance and a typo! The founders intended to reference the mathematical term googol (meaning the number 1 followed by 100 zeros), symbolizing their mission to index the vast resources of the internet. However, during domain registration, a mistake was made and "google" was entered. Although the mistake was discovered the next day, it turned out that the correct googol address was already taken – so the founders decided to stick with the name chosen by fate.
After leaving the confines of university and formalizing the partnership in 1998, Google's first official office became a legendary garage in Menlo Park (owned by Susan Wojcicki). The design of the company's early workspaces paid tribute to vibrant, saturated, and bright colors. This love of bold colors has stood the test of time—to this day, it remains a key element of the company's visual identity in its logo and a leitmotif in the company's modern offices around the world.
Yoshka was the dog of one of the first employees and became the team's unofficial, beloved mascot, roaming freely around the office. From the very beginning, Google built a unique management model based on a relaxed atmosphere, flexibility, and partnerships. As the company grew and moved into a vast office complex, the dog's memory was immortalized – one of the company's main cafes was named after him (Yoshka's Café).
The internet search engine was merely a starting point. Google's contemporary power is based on a vast ecosystem of tools and applications that have become a permanent part of our daily lives. Among the most important solutions mentioned in the article are:
- Google Maps – an advanced navigation, mapping and aerial imagery system.
- Google Translate – a translator that has come a long way from the butt of internet jokes to a powerful language tool.
- Google Discover – a personalized feed with content tailored to the user.
- PageSpeed Insights – a key tool for SEO specialists to measure the speed and technical quality of websites.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- The name Google was accidentally created as a result of a typo made by the founder while checking the availability of a domain name called "googol".
- In 1995, Larry Page and Sergey Brin joined forces at Stanford University to create an innovative ranking system that ranked websites by their merits.
- The search engine, initially named Backrub after the backlinks it analyzed, was later renamed PageRank before eventually adopting the name Google.
- Thanks to a $100,000 investment from Andy Bechtolsheim, the founders officially registered Google in 1998 and moved the company's development from the university to its garage headquarters.
- Google focuses on a relaxed work culture based on the principle of "do no evil," offering numerous privileges in exchange for employee creativity and efficiency.
- Today's Google is a global leader employing thousands of people, constantly developing, generating huge profits, and regularly ranking among the world's best employers.
