Google is a very known and popular search engine now commonly used across the entire world. The company was originated by Sergey Brin and Larry Page back in September 4, 1998 in Menlo Park, CA. The first name Brin and Page created was originally known as, “Backrub,” which was later changed to Google which was a play on the mathematical expression for the number 1 followed by 100 zeros and properly resembled Larry and Sergey’s mission “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” (How We Started and Where We Are Today). Google has worked over the years to become a very successful search engine. From starting in a friend’s garage just being a search engine, to creating new innovations such as Android, Gmail, Pixel and much more.
The first few interactions Brin and Page had been quite negative. Almost everything they spoke about ended up with arguments. Back in 1995, when Page was 22 years old, he went to Stanford University to continue his PHD in Computer Science. His tour guide was Brin, who was also pursuing his PHD in Computer Science (Kettler). After a few arguments, they began to get along with each other. In 1996, Page and Brin were working on a project called, “Backrub.” This site had the purpose of finding out how sites link back to other webpages. They wanted to help people find stuff on the web that is helpful to them instead of unnecessary webpages that will just cause trouble. Even though they had a wonderful idea, since they were both pursuing their PHD’s, they decided to sell it (Kettler). After contacting big brands like Yahoo, Infoseek, Lycos, and AltaVista, they had offers but not high numbers. So, they decided to just continue working on it some more. They decided that Backrub was a weird and horrible name and after that, they decided to change the name to, “Google.” Google originally came from the word, “Googol,” which was a term for a number with a hundred zeros (Kettler). The name Google became official in 1997. Their success lead to more opportunities and soon they were huge.
Google had a specific purpose which is why it became so successful. Their purpose was to provide the best search results. Google is now 75% used universally for online searches (Dearth). Google is so commonly used that in 2006, Oxford English Dictionary categorized the term, “Google,” as a verb. No matter what, Google always shows us the best results possible. Google’s determination to provide better results are out of this world. They maximize user experience and eliminate low-quality content from the search engine result pages (Dearth). They filter through millions of results and grab the ones that are most useful. They see user experience and determine which site was used longer, which ones were shared or saved, and citing sources. Google consistently updates their algorithms. This is very beneficial because it finds the most updated and recent information that has the most relevance to what someone is searching for. Google shows user’s material that have purpose to it and is useful (Dearth). Google’s reputation is high because they provide relevant and high-quality information users can trust. Google doesn’t care about a website or business’s marketing goals, to whom a business wants to be marketed and where a business says they offer services. Google wants to keep their search engine clean and up to date without having to worry about filtering through multiple sites for information.
Google never really made any real money in the beginning. They were becoming successful but not rich. After about three years of running, they introduced monetizing its position in search through Google AdWords (Beattie). Basically, this was a program where advertisers paid for impressions instead of clicks. It didn’t do so well in the beginning. So, they decided to continue working on it and do minor tweaks and updates to bring it back better than ever. Soon, AdWords transformed into an automated, pay-per-click ad auction that brought the idea of relevance to digital advertising (Beattie). Even to this day, AdWords still generates the automatic revenue that powers Google’s activities. AdWords success lead to AdSense, which allowed anyone with a website to access the Google advertising inventory, effectively setting up Google for dominance in digital advertising (Beattie). Google then began working on expanding their Ad Piece by taking over the digital world. They wanted to increase their revenue, so they acquired YouTube in 2006, Google Maps in 2005, Blogger in 2003, and Google Finance in 2006 (Beattie). These were only the gist’s of it. Google had more planned but weren’t monetize ready. They had Google Books which was the online version of books. They also had Google News with all the latest updates. Google continuously goes above and beyond with different ways of innovating the internet. Google sees innovation as part of the mission of the company and empowers its employees to get creative (Beattie). Through the amazing creativity, Google, an internet company was able to offer more than digital assistance. They have wearable tech, mobile operating systems, driverless cars, and renewable energy. The company’s main focus isn’t money. The focus is toward innovating first, trial and error through hands on users, and then start monetizing (Beattie). Google has two core components. One is a search engine that is preferred by most people in the world. The second is a self-serve ad network that generates revenue off that search engine and the many digital assets Google owns (Beattie). With the money earned from Ad Piece, they use those earning to create fast prototypes of newer ideas. But everything Google created wasn’t success. Google Video was one of the protypes that didn’t become so popular because of YouTube and Google+, but those downfalls didn’t have a negative effect on Google. They kept innovating and creating other new ideas that would make this a better place.
Google started off as a basic search engine inside their friend’s garage. Page and Brin didn’t get along when they first met. Backrub wasn’t successful at first. The company had multiple downfalls. But just because there are negatives doesn’t mean the positive won’t outweigh the negative. Page and Brin eventually got along and became partners. They were able to get out of the garage and expand. They changed the weird name to something magnificent. Page and Brin were able to receive money through grants, family, and friends. Thanks to the support they had, they were able to start a better tomorrow. They were able to hire thousands of workers. Be something unique and different. The ability to innovate and create newer ideas faster than ever. Creativity is something that leads to more success. Page and Brin’s continuous innovations lead to better results for a more user-friendly experience and they are slowly transforming this world into a greener place.
