What is Google?

Google is a multinational technology company that specializes in online advertising technologies, search engine software, cloud computing, and consumer electronics. Its most popular service, Google Search, is a search tool that organizes and prioritizes results based on the relevance of the keywords entered by the user. This dominance in the online world has given Google a large degree of influence over how information is displayed and consumed. Due to its prominence, the term “Google” has also become a verb used to describe searching for information, with people commonly saying “I googled it.”

Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University. In 1998, the pair received their first round of outside funding from Andy Bechtolsheim, a cofounder of Sun Microsystems. They named their company after the mathematical concept of a googol, a one followed by 100 zeroes.

Over the years, Google has grown from a search engine startup to an all-encompassing technology conglomerate with many different services and products. These include the most famous product, Google Search, as well as email with Gmail, video sharing with YouTube, navigation with Google Maps and Google Earth, and more. Some of these services are available for free, while others require a subscription fee.

The most popular Google service is its search engine, which processes millions of searches every day and is the most widely-used search tool on the internet. It uses a complicated algorithm to return the most relevant search results for each query, with the order of results influenced by the number and quality of links to the page being searched. Google also provides a wide variety of other tools, such as flight status and tracking, package tracking, weather forecasts, unit conversions, word definitions, and other specialized interactive experiences.

Google Search is complemented by other online services, such as Google Docs, which provides a free way to create, share, and edit documents. Google Drive offers cloud storage, and Google Duo is a cross-platform video chat solution. Google Maps allows users to view maps of the entire globe, get directions, and find nearby shops and restaurants. Google has also experimented with social networks, such as Google+, but has failed to make a significant impact in this area.

On occasion, the Google logo on its homepage will change to a special version that commemorates an event or day. These are known as Google Doodles, and they can take the form of a drawing, animation, or game. Each Google Doodle links to a search result for the topic it is commemorating. Past examples have included the Burning Man festival, birthdays of famous people such as Albert Einstein, and holidays such as Valentine’s Day. The logo can even be animated to produce music.