What is Google?

Google is the world’s most popular search engine and a huge part of how people use the internet. It is also known for other services like Gmail for email, Google Maps and Google Earth to display satellite images of the planet and YouTube to watch videos. Google is a technology company that makes hardware, cloud computing and software. It is based in Mountain View, California and has thousands of employees around the world.

Google was started in 1995 when two students named Larry Page and Sergey Brin created a search tool to help them find information on the internet. Their search engine was different because it looked at the content on web pages and how many other websites linked to them. This helped Google find important pages and rank them higher in search results. The idea was so successful that it became the standard way to search on the internet.

The founders incorporated Google in 1998 and began to receive outside investment. They grew the business and changed its name to Google in 1999, inspired by the number googol (a 1 followed by 100 zeroes). The new name helped them remember to make the search engine as useful as possible.

Over the years, Google’s services grew and included Google News, Gmail and Google Earth. The company grew so large that it went public in 2004 and started to earn money from advertising on its search results.

Google also bought other companies that helped them expand and develop their products. For example, they bought a firm that helped people place ads on their websites and another company that let users access information from their mobile phones. The growth of Google allowed it to become one of the most powerful technology companies in the world.

Along with the search engine, Google offers other services like video chat called Google Duo and cloud storage service Google Drive. The company also owns the website YouTube and has experimented with a social network that never gained much popularity, Google+.

Despite the many things Google does, its original search engine is still at the core of its business. Its broad product portfolio and size have made it one of the most influential companies in the high-tech marketplace, rivaling Apple, IBM and Microsoft.

Google is always looking for ways to improve its products and services. The company has a team of quality control experts that reviews each piece of software and website before it is released to the public. These specialists are called Googlers and they ensure that the products meet the company’s high standards. In addition to these staff, the company has hundreds of software engineers that work on developing and improving the search engine’s algorithm. The company also has research labs all over the world to keep its edge in the market. Some of its most advanced projects include self-driving cars, a home robot and artificial intelligence.