Do you have any questions in mind for which you want correct answers? Google has answers for everything or at least it can provide you the best answers for your queries. So you can easily get answers to your queries from this search engine. In addition, you should also know some important Google history facts and statistics.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google, as a California privately held company, on 4 September 1998 while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University in California.
1. Why named Google?
Larry and Sergey initially named their search engine BackRub which was based on its ability to analyze backlinks of websites. But later both founders felt this name needs to be updated. They wanted to relate its name with a limitless amount of information available on the internet.
So they finalized the name as Google that was originated from the word Googol, which means number 1 followed by 100 zeros. As the word Googol was meant for large numbers. So was the purpose of Google search engine to provide a large amount of information from the web.
2. Global Market Share of Search Engines
The desktop market share of Google has reduced from 90.77% in January 2010 to 85.86% in January 2021. Whereas for Bing it has increased from 3.41% to 6.84% for the same timeframes as highlighted by Statista.
Though Bing is second in global market share there is a huge gap from Google. Google has remained on top in terms of market share since its beginning in the Year 1998.
3. Google in Most Valuable Brands Worldwide
In the Year 2019, Google was the second most valuable brand worldwide with a brand value of 167.71 billion dollars after Apple with 234.24 billion dollars. These stats are available here at Statista.
4. Google Adwords
Google launched AdWords on 23 October 2000. This was for advertisers who could purchase affordable keyword advertising to appear instantly on Google’s search results page. Later on 24 July 2018 Google AdWords became Google Ads.
5. Google News
Google News was initially launched as a Beta Version in September 2002 only in the English language. After around 3 years in January 2006 Google News was launched in 10 languages.
Now Google News, world’s largest news aggregator, is available in 35 languages.
6. Google AdSense
Google launched AdSense which was initially named as content targeting advertising in March 2003. The name was changed to AdSense in April 2003 when Google acquired Applied Semantics.
7. Google Tag Manager
Google Tag Manager (GTM), to handle your tagging needs with a single code snippet, was launched on 1 October 2003.
8. Google Alerts
Google Alerts service was launched in the Year 2003. This service sends email notifications for selected search terms in case of any updated content for those search terms. Naga Kataru, a Google hired engineer, created Google Alerts.
9. Gmail Service
Google launched its free email service named Gmail as a beta release on 1 April 2004. Recently Google announced some smart features like smart compose and smart reply to be added to the Gmail service.
10. Google Maps
Google developed and launched Google Maps in February 2005. In October 2004 Google acquired Where 2 Technologies where Google Maps was started as C++ Desktop Program. This is a web mapping service with satellite imagery, street views, a real-time traffic analyzer, and more.
11. Google Analytics
Google acquired the web statistics analysis program Urchin Software Corp. in April 2005. And, in November 2005, the first version of Google Analytics was introduced.
Recently in October 2020, Google released Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to improve your marketing decisions and get a better return on investment (ROI).
12. YouTube
YouTube initially was a separate online video sharing platform company started on 14 February 2005. But Google acquired YouTube on 13 November 2006.
Now YouTube has over more than 2 billion users.
13. Google Trends
Google Trends was launched on 11 May 2006. This website provides interest overtime data for top searched queries with region-specific stats and facts.
Another similar product named Google Insights for Search was also launched on 5 Aug 2008 but later on 27 September 2012, this was merged with Google Trends.
14. Google+ Social Platform
Google+, also called Google Plus, was launched on 28 June 2011 as a social network. Initially this platform did well but with time engagement dropped and Google+ was was discontinued for usage on 2 April 2019.
15. Google Search Console
Google Webmaster Tools was rebranded to Google Search Console on 20 May 2015. This is a helpful tool for health check of your website as it checks indexing status and optimizes your website’s visibility.
Recently Google Search Console announced the addition of an Associations page under its Settings menu.
16. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
Accelerated Mobile Pages was introduced on 7 Oct 2015 is optimized for mobile web browsing and intended to help webpages load faster. AMP, an open-source initiative, is optimized for mobile web browsing and intended to help webpages load faster.
Summary
As we all know Google is the most searched and used website in the whole world. Everybody uses Google in their own way by using its several products and services. Here we have tried to include all the major Google history facts and stats which prove that it’s not merely a search engine.
We will keep adding more about Google in the future. It will be good if you want to share your views about Google or anything you want to add about this brand. Happy reading and take care.