How Does Google Work?
Google is an integral part of our lives, and we rely on it for information, entertainment, communication, and more. It’s hard to imagine the Internet without it! But how exactly does it work? What goes on behind the scenes to make sure your search results are accurate and relevant? Let’s take a look at how this tech giant came to be.
Google’s story began in 1995 when Larry Page, who was considering Stanford for grad school, met Sergey Brin, then a student there. They struck up a partnership and began working on a project to build a better search engine for the World Wide Web. They started by analyzing existing websites for important keywords, then determining how well the pages on each website ranked for those words. They used this information to create a ranking system for webpages that compared their importance to that of other pages. This became the foundation of Google’s search algorithm.
In order to keep up with the billions of pages that exist on the web, Google has to continually update its index – a database that lists every possible combination of words a user might enter into a search box. To do this, the company operates a bot (also known as a spider) called Googlebot that constantly explores the internet, looking for new pages to add to its index. Once it finds a new page, Google analyzes its content, images, and video files and then stores the information in a huge database that is searched when users enter certain queries into the Google search box.
The secret to Google’s success lies in its algorithm, which has been kept confidential. It is believed to use over 250 different indicators to determine the rank of a page, but only a few have been revealed. One important factor is the number of other pages that link to a given page, which is thought to correlate with a webpage’s importance. Another factor is the number of visitors that a site gets, which correlates with the popularity of a topic.
In addition to its search engine, Google has launched many popular services that have changed how we live and work, such as Gmail, the most popular e-mail host; Google Maps, which provides directions and map data; and Google Docs, which makes it easy for people to share documents with others. It has also created a range of physical products, such as the Pixel smartphone line; Chromecast in-home streaming devices; and the Chromebook laptop line. Google has even made moves into the future of technology with projects like self-driving cars (Waymo) and biomedical research (Calico).
Although it is only 25 years old, Google has had a profound impact on our daily lives. Its continued innovation and investment in cutting-edge technologies will no doubt shape the digital world for years to come.
