On September 27, 1998, two young students from Stanford University, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founded Google, although the history of the search engine had begun years before. Both had started working on the project in 1996, as part of a university project for the Computer Science degree, which they were studying at Stanford University, in the United States.
In fact, that incipient search engine they developed was called, in the first place, BackRub. However, the creators decided to change the name in 1997, inspired by the number 10 raised to the power of 100, which is called “Googol.”
Foundation of the Google company and the Google search engine
After developing their academic work, the two young people decide found the company Google LLC on September 4, 1998. It was not until a few days later, on September 27, 1998, when they launched their Google search engine, which would rival the then popular Altavista. That is why this is the date that is considered the anniversary of the search engine (not the company).
Since then, the company and the search engine have not stopped incorporating new functions – and also experiencing some failures – that have changed the way the Internet is used today.
One of its first developments, and on which it still obtains income today, is the Adwords advertising system, which arrived in 2000. A year later, after purchasing Usenet Deja News, the service was converted into Google Groups. Also that year, image search and application search were launched.
It was in 2003 when, after purchasing Pyra Labs, Google acquired the Blogger blog creation service. That year Google Grants, Google Print and Google Books were also launched. The giant does not stop growing and continues to make acquisitions and increase its service offering.
Purchase and launch of Android and YouTube
After launching Google Maps and Google Earth in 2005, that same year Google purchased Android Inc. It also launched Google Talk and the RSS feed reader Google Reader. A year later it launched Picasa, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Apps… and acquired YouTube for 1.65 billion dollars.
Already in 2007 it launched the Android mobile operating system and became the most valuable company in the world. Google Chrome would arrive in 2008, along with other developments such as Google Voice.
Google’s first phone, the Nexus One, was launched in 2010 and that same year Google TV was also launched.
A year later it bought Motorola and launched Google Plus, Google’s large social network, which ended up closing due to little use and the security holes it presented just seven years later. Despite all the attempts it has made in its history to have a social network, the company has not achieved success in this task.
Google, an Alphabet company
It was in 2015 when the Alphabet company was created, of which Google became a subsidiary. The reorganization allows us to improve the administration and management of all Google services. Sundar Pichai becomes the company’s CEO.
The Google we know today is quite different from the one founded by Brin and Page. It is the main search engine for more than 90% of Internet users on the planet and in countries like Spain it has no rival: 98% of Spanish Internet users use it.
It is no longer just a search engine, but it is a giant that offers all kinds of services on the Internet: from maps to videos (after the acquisition of YouTube in 2006), through developments such as Google Glass or the self-driving car, to name just a few of the thousands of products that the company has developed in these almost two decades of history.
Some have succeeded, others not so much (such as, for example, all those related to social networks) but the firm, which was restructured to be integrated into Alphabet Inc, employs more than 80,000 people around the world and manages more than half of online advertising contracted in the world, the pillar on which its business is based.
To celebrate its 25th birthday, the search engine has launched a new Doodle in which it reviews the evolution of its logo in these 25 years and several wallpapers alluding to the holiday.
