History of Google
Google played a crucial role in shaping the modern internet and still is playing its role.
'Today, the way we live our lives, and the way we search or look for things is mostly because
of Google.Today, most businesses use google to promote themselves, market their products
and gain sales. They look for ways to increase Google reviews to gain more customers and
earn profits in their businesses.The history of Google dates back to the year 1996, when two
of the brightest minds at Stanford University in California, Larry Page and Sergey Brin
developed a search algorithm first known as ‘BackRub’ with the help of two friends
Scott Hassan and Alan Steremberg.The word Google has no full form but
is generated from the word ‘googol’ which means a huge number. The word Google
was misspelled and later decided to use as the company’s name. Google.com
was registered in the year 1997 and later incorporated in 1998. Started in the garage
of a friend named Susan Wojcicki in Menlo Park, California.
The Burning Man was the first Google Doodle designed by the co-founders
Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The Duo created the doodle to notify users of
their absence in case the servers crashed. The history of Google started
in 1996 with this doodle and the company didn’t look back since then.
1998 – The Year of Initial Funding
Initial Funding Craig Silverstein was the first employee hired by Google.
At present, there are over 114,096 employees working at Google.
By the end of the year, Google had an index of about 60 million pages.
BackRub is written in Java and Python and runs on several Sun Ultras and
Intel Pentiums running Linux. The primary database is kept on a Sun Ultra II
with 28GB of disk. Scott Hassan and Alan Steremberg have provided a great
deal of very talented implementation help. Sergey Brin has also been very
involved and deserves many thanks.
1999 – Moved Towards the Home
of Startups (Silicon Valley)
The year 1999 holds a special place in the hearts of Page and Brin, in March,
the company shifted to Palo Alto, California. Another major change came in
the month of September when Google officially removed the beta from the title.
2000 – Adding New Languages
Google Adding New Languages
Google added ten new languages: French, German, Italian, Swedish, Finnish,
Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Danish
2001 – Google welcomed its first Chairman
– Eric Schmidt
Eric Schmidt first Chairman
2001 was the year when Eric Schmidt joined Google as its first chairman and
later became its chief executive officer. Moreover, Larry Page became president of
products and Sergey Brin became president of technology.
Google 1996
Google 1996
Google launches Google Image Search with over 250 million images in its
search database.'
2002 – Introduction of AdWords
Introduction of AdWords With the introduction of AdWords, Google struck gold.
It uses partly cookies and partly keywords characteristics to place advertising
copy on pages depending on the relevance.In September 2002, Google launched
‘Google News’ Krishna Bharat was the one who developed the idea of Google news.
it is available in more than 35 languages across the globe. This was a big milestone
in the historyof Google as AdWords gained huge popularity in the succeeding years.
2003 –The year of AdSense
The year of AdSense
In March 2003, Google launched its AdSense program. It was originally named
Content Targeting Advertising. Google’s team of designers and illustrators has
produced more than 2000 doodles for Google’s homepage since its first launch
in August 1998.
2004 – Google Goes Public and the Launch
of Gmail
Launch of Gmail After a long wait of five years, Google offered its IPO on
19 August 2004. The interesting fact about the IPO was that the shares
were sold in an online auction format using a system built by Morgan
Stanley and Credit Suisse who were the underwriters for the deal.
Launch of Gmail
Gmail is today one of the most dominant email platforms used across the world.
However, the users took it as an April fool prank when on April 1, 2004; Google
genuinely launched its Gmail. It is a free mail service that can be accessed by
the user from anywhere in the world.Google Autocomplete was the first of its kind
when it was released in 2004. It added a fun new way to search the internet, and
significantly improved the user experience of search workflow.2004 – Google
Goes Public and the Launch of Gmail
2006 – The Year of Fast Growth YouTube
2006 – The Year of Fast Growth YouTube
Fast Growth
In early 2005, YouTube changed the game with what was by far the most accessible and
comprehensive video website on the internet. Coincidentally, Google released its
competitor, Google Video, around the same time. Both were popular, but YouTube’s
quickly growing platform was far too much for Google to overcome directly, so it
outright bought the website for $1.65 billion in 2006.
Google growth
Google Mobile Web: With the rise in mobile users, Google decided to release its
mobile web search for mobile users delivering the same results as on desktop.
Google Maps: It all started when two Danish brothers Lars and Jens Eilstrup
Google Maps: It all started when two Danish brothers Lars and Jens Eilstrup
Rasmussen came up with an idea for a web app that will display static maps
along with a searchable, scrollable, and zoomable map. PAC-MAN became
Google’s first-ever playable doodle on May 21, 2010, the day being the
30th anniversary of the arcade game.
2007 –Acquires DoubleClick
Street View in Google Maps debuted in five US cities. Google acquired Double Click,
an online advertising company. In 2007, Fortune magazine listed Google as the number
one company to work for in the U.S.
2008 – Google Launches the Chrome Browser
Google Chrome Browser
Launched in 2008, Google released Chrome firstly for Microsoft Windows and later
ported it to Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android. It later launched 43 supported languages.
The launch of the chrome browser turned out to be one of the key phases in the
history of Google.
2009 – Declaration of the Power
Google 2009 – Declaration of the Power .In November, Forbes magazine featured
Sergey Brin and Larry Page as the fifth most powerful people in the world.
2010 – Nexus One
google Branded Smartphone Nexus one Google launched its first branded smartphone,
the Nexus One.
2011 – Meet the new CEO Larry Page
google Larry page
2011 marked a significant chapter in the history of Google as its management was
changed. In April, co-founder Larry Page took over the role of CEO and
Eric Schmidt became the Executive Chairman.
2012 – 2013 – The launch of Chromecast
Launches of Chromecast
Google launched Chromecast, a dongle that allows people to stream content from
their phones or computers to a TV.Google ChromeCast Interesting Fact: Google’s
first tweet was “I’m feeling lucky” in binary code.
2014 – 2015 – The New CEO – Sundar Pichai
Sundar Pichai
Google welcomed its new CEO Sundar Pichai
Google folded itself into a new company called Alphabet with Page as its CEO.
The new parent company includes businesses like Nest, Google X, Fiber, and
Google Ventures under its umbrella. This was one of the turning points in the
Interesting Fact: Sundar Pichai joined Google in 2004. He has overseen the
development of popular Google products like Chrome, Drive, Gmail, Google Apps,
and Android.
2016 – The Launch of Google Pixel
‘First phone made by Google’
Google entered the home assistant wars with its AI-powered Google Home device
Google launched a flagship phone called the Pixel, billed as “the first phone made by
Google inside and out.” The launch of this phone was one of the most important phases in the history
of Google
2017 – Buys part of HTC
After years of working closely with the hardware manufacturer, Google finally bought
HTC. It paid $1.1 billion to get its hands on smartphone expertise from the struggling
Taiwanese manufacturer of its Nexus phones.
2018 – 20 years of Google
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, reports that it topped $100 billion in annual sales
for the first time in Google’s 20-year history. The milestone is a testament to the strength of
Google’s ad sales business in 2018.
2019 – New CEO of Alphabet
CEO of Alphabet
On 3 December 2019, Sundar Pichai became CEO of Alphabet Inc.
Interesting Fact: Google to launch the interpreter mode. The upcoming feature will be
available on all Android and Android Go phones. Google introduces support in seven
new Indian languages including Tamil, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam,
Oriya, Punjabi, and Urdu.
2020- The year of Change
Heeding the COVID-19 pandemic, Google announced a myriad of cost-cutting measures
like slowing down hiring, focusing more on machines and data centers, etc.
Interesting Fact: In 2020, Google faced as many as three service outages that disrupted
Interesting Fact: In 2020, Google faced as many as three service outages that disrupted
the company’s services including Google Drive, YouTube, and the Suite of Google
applications. Fortunately, all the outages were resolved within hours.
2021- Year of Controversies
Year of Controversies
Although there have been multiple instances of disputes in the history of Google, 2021
- Google Chrome incognito mode lawsuit
- Investigations for alleged harassment and discrimination
- Employees departing due to the incentive structures and several other reasons
2022- Emphasizing Privacy and Security
On April 6, Google announced to add a ‘privacy guide’ to the chrome browser.
