The History of Google on its 25th Birthday: Key Moments from the Search Engine Giant

The History of Google on its 25th Birthday

It's hard to believe, but Google is celebrating its 25th birthday this year! From humble beginnings as a research project in 1998 to the search engine giant it is today, Google's journey over the past quarter century has shaped the technology landscape as we know it.

Let's take a look back at some of the key moments in Google's history on its big 2-5.

Google is Born at Stanford

Google's story begins in 1995 at Stanford University, where Larry Page and Sergey Brin first met as Ph.D. students in computer science. While researching the structure of the internet, they came up with the idea for a new kind of search engine based on analyzing relationships between websites.

In 1998, Page and Brin officially launched their new search engine, originally called Backrub. It operated on Stanford's website for more than a year before finally being renamed Google, inspired by the mathematical term "googol."

Google Gets Funding and Grows

Later in 1998, Google received $100,000 in funding from Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim, one of the first investors to recognize its potential. This allowed them to upgrade their equipment and move their fledgling company into a friend's garage in Menlo Park.

Over the next few years, Google's clean, fast, and relevant search results began changing the game. As the company grew, Google launched AdWords in 2000 as a way to make money through sponsored links. This revolutionary auction-based advertising model was key to Google's success.

Google Becomes a Household Name

Early press coverage in Time, USA Today, and other major media gave Google's name recognition a boost in the early 2000s. Google also began expanding beyond web search during this time.

In 2002, Google launched Google News, collating headlines and full articles from 4,500 news sources worldwide. Google Images also debuted that year. Gmail, Google's free webmail service, arrived in 2004.

Google went public on the NASDAQ stock exchange in 2004 at a share price of $85, raising $1.2 billion in its IPO. Despite some initial skepticism from analysts, the stock price soared to over $700 per share by 2007, cementing Google's status as a Wall Street darling.

The Rise of Mobile and AI

Over the past decade, Google has focused heavily on mobile technology and artificial intelligence. Android, Google's open source operating system for mobile devices, launched in 2008. To this day, Android powers over 70% of smartphones worldwide.

Google has also been on the forefront of advanced AI research, including innovations like its RankBrain algorithm that helps interpret search queries. In 2015, Google released Tensorflow, its groundbreaking open source library for machine learning applications.

Other futuristic projects that show Google's ambition include Waymo, its self-driving car program, and DeepMind, an AI research lab focused on systems that can learn for themselves.

Google Today and Tomorrow

Now in 2024, Google remains the world's dominant search engine, handling over 3.5 billion searches per day. While the company has branched out into hardware like Pixel phones, Nest devices, and Stadia gaming, search advertising still represents the core of its $257 billion annual revenue.

As for the future? Expect Google to continue pushing boundaries with quantum computing, augmented reality, and other emerging technologies. But for now, let's just wish them a happy 25th birthday!

Here's to many more innovations ahead Google. Thanks for helping us find information, connect, and explore the digital world over the past quarter century!

FAQs

When was Google founded?

Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University.

Why was Google originally called Backrub?

The original name for Google was Backrub. It referred to the company's unique backlink-analysis-based page ranking system that analyzed relationships between websites.

When did Google go public?

Google went public on August 19, 2004. The company held its initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ, raising $1.2 billion at a share price of $85.

What was Google's first ever Tweet?

Google's first ever Tweet was "I'm 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 01101100 01110101 01100011 01101011 01111001 00001010." It was binary code for "I'm feeling lucky."

How many searches does Google handle each day?

Google handles over 3.5 billion searches per day worldwide as of 2024, processing trillions of searches per year.