Google is the most go-to search engine available on the Web. We use Google to perform research on a particular subject, look for jobs, images, travel, and even email. Google first came about in the mid-90s only as a search engine. In the last fifteen years, Google has grown from solely being a search engine to a multinational corporation known as Google Inc.
Google was discovered in 1996 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin who were PhD students at Stanford University in California. Google first started as a research project to try and determine a better way to search the Web and was only available through the Stanford University website. The name “Google” originated from “googol”, which is the large number 10 to the 100th power, or the digit 1 followed by 100 zeros.
Not too long after Page and Brin finished their research did Google become a registered search engine in September 1997. Google Inc. was founded a year later in September 1998. For the next decade, Google Inc. bought out and partnered with smaller companies and purchased stock. One of the most vital moves in Internet history is when Google bought YouTube back in 2006 for $1.6 billion. Google Inc. also partnered with other companies such as NASA to assist in their research, and AOL, Microsoft, and Nokia.
Google became the most used search engine in the United States in November 2009. A year later, it is still indeed the most used and most popular search engine. Now we know where the phrase “Google it” came from.
Google is so successful and famous because of its many functions more than just being a search engine. Even the search engine functions are more advanced than other search engines. You can type in a simple keyword or sentence and rather than just getting a few hits or a few useful pages, maybe, Google will provide hits on stock or weather reports, maps, airports, home and career listings, and even sports statistics.
Google also provides other services, which blow other search engines out of the water and keeps Google reining at the top. Some of these services include Google docs, which is an online storage server where you can store documents and files for free. You can upload and download as many documents as you choose, move and organize folders and files, and even share with other users.
For profit, Google also offers an advertising service through Google AdWords. This is its main source of revenue. The purpose of this service is to provide businesses with short advertisements, usually a line or two of text. This is known as Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising. This service generated $23 billion in 2009 alone.
Google has certainly dominated the World Wide Web with its advanced search engine functions and other beneficial services. Google and Google Inc. will most likely continue to grow and prosper in the future. They are continuously one step ahead on the Web, which puts them in first place in competition. So where will the Internet and search engines be in the future? “Google it”.
Read more about Charles Philip Granere and his articles about information technology.