(Google, Mountain View, CA, www.google.com) The largest search engine on the Web, founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two Stanford University students. In 1996, they developed their "BackRub" search engine, named after its unique page ranking method (explained below). With investments from Sun founder Andy Bechtolsheim and others, the company was founded in September 1998, and BackRub was launched as the Google search engine in 1999.
Google acquired the Usenet discussion groups from Deja.com in 2001 and renamed them Google Groups. In 2006, Google surprised everyone by acquiring YouTube, the most popular video sharing site on the Web. See Usenet, Deja.com and YouTube.
In addition to search, Google offers a variety of applications that until 2007 were all offered free for the user, including e-mail, desktop search, word processing, spreadsheets and image editing. In 2007, Google combined its business applications into both free and paid packages (see Google Apps). See Gmail, Google Desktop, Google Docs and Picasa.
Google It!
The name Google was chosen to represent the gigantic amount of material available on the Web. It comes from "googol;" the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. The name became a verb. To Google something means to search the Web for it. See googol.
The Clean Screen
From the start, Google set itself apart from the other search sites. Instead of its home page laden with graphics that took a long time to download over an analog modem, the Google home page contained only a logo and search box. The page downloaded quickly, and users felt they were getting a faster result even before they started searching. Even today, Google's home page is sparse: no news, no ads; only a handful of subtle text links to its huge number of services and applications.
Behind Google's clean home page lies the most sophisticated search engine system in the world. The company streamlines all of its several hundred thousand PCs to provide the most search engine power with the least amount of energy and heat dissipation. Using its own self-healing software, Google's Web indexes are mirrored around the globe, and any PC can fail without disruption.
PageRank and Backlinks - A Different Approach
Called "PageRank," Google introduced a unique concept of determining which pages rank the highest in the results list. When you do a Google search, the pages with the most links pointing to them from other sites, known as "backlinks," are placed higher up in the list because they are considered more popular and thus more relevant. In addition, the sites with the backlinks are themselves analyzed for backlinks to determine how popular they are. For example, a site might rank higher if 50 very popular sites link to it rather than 500 unpopular sites. See Google Doodle, Google bomb and Googleplex.
Google acquired the Usenet discussion groups from Deja.com in 2001 and renamed them Google Groups. In 2006, Google surprised everyone by acquiring YouTube, the most popular video sharing site on the Web. See Usenet, Deja.com and YouTube.
In addition to search, Google offers a variety of applications that until 2007 were all offered free for the user, including e-mail, desktop search, word processing, spreadsheets and image editing. In 2007, Google combined its business applications into both free and paid packages (see Google Apps). See Gmail, Google Desktop, Google Docs and Picasa.
Google It!
The name Google was chosen to represent the gigantic amount of material available on the Web. It comes from "googol;" the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. The name became a verb. To Google something means to search the Web for it. See googol.
The Clean Screen
From the start, Google set itself apart from the other search sites. Instead of its home page laden with graphics that took a long time to download over an analog modem, the Google home page contained only a logo and search box. The page downloaded quickly, and users felt they were getting a faster result even before they started searching. Even today, Google's home page is sparse: no news, no ads; only a handful of subtle text links to its huge number of services and applications.
Behind Google's clean home page lies the most sophisticated search engine system in the world. The company streamlines all of its several hundred thousand PCs to provide the most search engine power with the least amount of energy and heat dissipation. Using its own self-healing software, Google's Web indexes are mirrored around the globe, and any PC can fail without disruption.
PageRank and Backlinks - A Different Approach
Called "PageRank," Google introduced a unique concept of determining which pages rank the highest in the results list. When you do a Google search, the pages with the most links pointing to them from other sites, known as "backlinks," are placed higher up in the list because they are considered more popular and thus more relevant. In addition, the sites with the backlinks are themselves analyzed for backlinks to determine how popular they are. For example, a site might rank higher if 50 very popular sites link to it rather than 500 unpopular sites. See Google Doodle, Google bomb and Googleplex.
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2009 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- Google classic homepage sports Motorola Droid ad
- Notice anything different about Google's classic homepage? Yep -- there's an ad for the Motorola Droid smartphone on it. by Andrew Nusca
- Blog posts 2009-11-06
- High-risk flaw dings Google Chrome
- A "high-risk" flaw in Google Chrome presents a threat of arbitrary code execution. by Ryan Naraine
- Blog posts 2009-11-06
- Why Google released Closure Tools
- Anything Google can do to make Javascript more valuable to you is in its best interests, and the tools described on its blog today are pretty marvelous. by Dana Blankenhorn
- Blog posts 2009-11-06
- Google Dashboard brings security settings to the forefront
- Keeping user in mind, Google released Dashboard, a page that gives users access to the privacy settings for all of their Google accounts. by Sam Diaz
- Blog posts 2009-11-06
- News to know: Windows 7; Google Dashboard; Driving while texting; Steve Jobs; Droid
- Here are today's notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily. For continuous updates see BNET's around-the-Web tech coverage.: Sam Diaz: Ballmer: So far, Windows 7 sales are "fantastic" Dana Blankenhorn: What the Google Privacy Dashboard can...
- Blog posts 2009-11-06
- See what Google knows about you, kind of
- Google has launched an all-in-one dashboard that attempts to show you what they know about you. It's basically an updated "Google Accounts" page that gives you more information than was available previously. The complete list of Google services that are participating in "Google Dashboard" include: ...
- Blog posts 2009-11-05
- Google Chrome 3.0.195.32 (Windows)
- Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the Web faster, safer, and easier. Use one box for everything--type in the address bar and get suggestions for both search and Web pages. Thumbnails of your top sites let you access your favorite pages...
- Software downloads 2009-11-05
- Google Chrome dev 4.0.229.1 (Mac)
- Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the Web faster, safer, and easier. Use one box for everything--type in the address bar and get suggestions for both search and Web pages. Thumbnails of your top sites let you access your favorite pages...
- Software downloads 2009-11-05
- HoudahGeo 2.3.5 (Mac)
- HoudahGeo is a one-stop geocoding application for the Mac. With HoudahGeo you may "pin" photos to the locations where they were taken. The thus created information may be exported to EXIF tags as well as to Google Earth KML files. Such a file allows for browsing your photos within Google...
- Software downloads 2009-11-05
- Google Maps and the mystery of the non-existent town
- A small village in the north of England, Argleton, simply doesn't exist except in the world of Google. But why? by Zack Whittaker
- Blog posts 2009-11-04
- New Live@Edu offerings keep pressure on Google Apps for Education
- Microsoft made a number of major announcements today, all designed to up the ante in its battle for business and educational customers with Google's Apps products. The most important for us? Microsoft announced serious expansions of its Live@Edu services, most of which are based on the now-cheaper Exchange and Sharepoint...
- Blog posts 2009-11-03
- Best 'worst' Google Voice transcription errors--screenshots
- We asked you for the funniest erroneous transcriptions to come out of Google Voice's free voice-to-text service. Here are your hilarious examples. by CNET News.com
- Image galleries 2009-11-03
- Sony Ericsson announces XPERIA X10 Google Android device
- 8GB8GB? definitely not enough in 2010. especially for a media centric phone with a 4" screen. 32 GB will be pretty standard by then. what is it with these companies that they are so cheap with storage?iphoneand isn't it amazing how all these shiny new phones are exact copies of...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-03
- Sony Ericsson announces XPERIA X10 Google Android device
- Sony Ericsson has been known to make some compelling smartphones that had sleek, solid designs at high prices, like the XPERIA X1 I purchased and then returned earlier this year. Today we see the announcement of their first Google Android device, the XPERIA X10 and I have to say this...
- Blog posts 2009-11-03
- Calling all innovators: Google hangs "Help Wanted" sign
- Google hangs help Google provides no conduit for unsolicited ideas. It is arrogance - that one can get away with whilst the web is young. ZDNet should try asking why, rathering than pandering...Perhaps if their staff were given 15 minutes a week of free time to ponder on what is...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-03
- Google Wave: Has potential, but let loose too soon
- Open sourceKeep in mind that the code to developers is completely open source. If someone wants to make their own wave software or use the real time HTML 5 support for something else.Besides this is just a preview of the basics. Open to only 100,000 people, you can't expect much....
- Discussion threads 2009-11-03
- Chrome 4.0 gets beta release
- Just an observation -Google now joins those other browsers that seem to "borrow" some would say nick features of Opera, yet Opera remains, with a small seemingly never growing following. The addition of speed will end soon, as gains like this always meet their limits. When all of the...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-03
- Chrome 4.0 gets beta release
- Google introduced the bookmark sync feature for the developer-preview version in August, and now it is also in the better-tested beta version, Chrome 4.0.223.16. More people will get a chance to try out bookmark synchronization with Monday's release of a beta version of Google Chrome for Windows. ...
- News items 2009-11-03
- Google Wave: Has potential, but let loose too soon
- Google Wave was "released" too soon. Sure it is only in preview-mode but what I see so far doesn't fill me with confidence, even though it could have some potential. by Zack Whittaker
- Blog posts 2009-11-03
- Calling all innovators: Google hangs "Help Wanted" sign
- Google is hiring again. And in case you hadn't heard, the company is known for having some pretty sweet perks for its employees. And we're not just talking free meals and on-site dry cleaners. In a blog post titled "Investing in Innovation at Google," the company goes...
- Blog posts 2009-11-03
Neighboring Terms
Premier Vendor Content Whitepapers, webcasts & resources from our Power Center Sponsors
-
-
Smart Tech
Expert advice on innovations in healthcare and the green technologies that make it happen.
Find out more
-
Smart Business
Discussion and advice on management issues that revolve around making your world smarter and more useful.
More Smart Advice
-
Smart People
The best and worst moves in the management and strategy trenches.
Learn More
