🕷️ Crawler Inspector

URL Lookup

Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 62 (from laksa181)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa062.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc","crawl_time":1775585845,"first_indexed_time":1712264380,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,britannica!www,\/money\/Google-Inc s443","src_root_hash":"5455945239613777662","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Google | History & Facts; Products & Services | Britannica Money","meta_descriptions":["Google is an American search engine company, founded in 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Since 2015,..."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Open full sized image\nWelcome to the Googleplex.\n© Ken Wolter\/Dreamstime.com\nin full:\nGoogle LLC\nformerly:\nGoogle Inc. (1998–2017)\nDate:\n1998 - present\nTicker:\nGOOGL\nShare price:\n$299.99 (mkt close, Apr. 06, 2026)\nMarket cap:\n$3.63 tr.\nAnnual revenue:\n$402.84 bil.\nEarnings per share (prev. year):\n$10.8\nSector:\nCommunication Services\nIndustry:\nInteractive Media & Services\nCEO:\nMr. Sundar  Pichai\nNews\n•\nGoogle is an American\nsearch engine\ncompany, founded in 1998 by\nSergey Brin\nand\nLarry Page\n. Since 2015, Google has been a subsidiary of the\nholding company\nAlphabet, Inc\n. More than 70% of worldwide online search requests are handled by Google, placing it at the heart of most\nInternet\nusers’ experience. It is one of the world’s most prominent\nbrands\n. Its headquarters are in\nMountain View\n,\nCalifornia\n.\nGoogle began as an online search firm, but it now offers more than 50 Internet services and products, from\ne-mail\nand online document creation to\nsoftware\nfor\nmobile phones\nand\ntablet computers\n. In addition, its 2012 acquisition of Motorola Mobility put the company in the position to sell hardware in the form of mobile phones. Google’s broad product portfolio and size make it one of the top four influential companies in the high-tech marketplace, along with\nApple\n,\nIBM\n, and\nMicrosoft\n. Despite its myriad of products, the original search tool remains the core of Google’s success. In 2023, Alphabet took in $175 billion in revenue (57% of all Google revenue) from\nadvertising\nbased on users’ search requests.\nRanking and backlinks: A new kind of search engine\nBrin and Page, who met as graduate students at\nStanford University\n, were intrigued with the idea of extracting meaning from the mass of data accumulating on the Internet. They began working from Page’s dormitory room at Stanford to devise a new type of search technology, which they dubbed\nBackRub. The key was to leverage users’ own ranking abilities by tracking each website’s “backing links”—that is, the number of other pages linked to them.\nMost search engines simply returned a list of websites ranked by how often a search phrase appeared on them. Brin and Page incorporated into the search function the number of links each website had. A website with thousands of links would logically be more valuable than one with just a few links, and the search engine thus would place the heavily linked site higher on a list of possibilities.\nFurther, a link from a heavily linked website would be a more valuable “vote” than one from a more obscure website.\nEarly investment, rapid growth, and a 2004 IPO\nIn mid-1998 Brin and Page began receiving outside financing. (One of their first investors was\nAndy Bechtolsheim, a cofounder of\nSun Microsystems, Inc.\n). They ultimately raised about $1 million from investors, family, and friends and set up shop in\nMenlo Park\n, California, under the name Google, which was derived from a misspelling of Page’s original planned name,\ngoogol\n(a mathematical term for the number one followed by 100 zeroes). By mid-1999, when Google received a $25 million round of\nventure capital\nfunding, it was processing 500,000 queries per day. Activity began to explode in 2000, when Google became the client search engine for one of the Web’s most popular sites,\nYahoo!\n. By 2004, when Yahoo! dispensed with Google’s services, users were searching on Google 200 million times a day. That growth only continued; by the end of 2011, Google was handling some three billion searches per day. The company’s name became so ubiquitous that it entered the lexicon as a verb. To\ngoogle\nbecame a common expression for searching the Internet.\nTo accommodate this unprecedented mass of data, Google built 11 data centers around the world, each of them containing several hundred thousand servers (basically,\nmultiprocessor\npersonal computers and hard drives mounted in specially constructed racks). The heart of Google’s operation, however, is built around three proprietary pieces of computer code:\nGoogle File System (GFS),\nBigtable, and\nMapReduce. GFS handles the storage of data in “chunks” across several machines; Bigtable is the company’s database program; and MapReduce is used by Google to generate higher-level data (e.g., putting together an index of Web pages that contain the words “Chicago,” “theater,” and “participatory”).\nOpen full sized image\nGoogle creators Larry Page (left) and Sergey Brin.\n© Google Inc. Used with permission.\nThe extraordinary growth of Google led to internal management problems. Almost from the beginning, investors felt that Brin and Page needed an experienced manager at the helm, and in 2001 they agreed to hire\nEric Schmidt\nas chairman and\nchief executive officer\n(CEO) of the company. Schmidt, who had previously held the same positions at the software company Novell Inc., had a doctorate in\ncomputer science\nand melded well with the technocratic impulses of the founders. During Schmidt’s reign as CEO, Page served as president of products, and Brin was president of technology. The trio ran the company as a “triumvirate” until Page took on the CEO role in 2011, Schmidt became executive chairman, and Brin adopted the title of director of special projects.\nThe company’s\ninitial public offering\n(IPO) in 2004 raised $1.66 billion for the company and made Brin and Page instant billionaires. In fact, the IPO created 7 billionaires and 900 millionaires from the early stockholders. The stock offering also made news because of the unusual way it was handled. Shares were sold in a public auction intended to put the average investor on an equal footing with financial industry professionals. Google was added to the\nS&P 500 Index\n) in 2006. By 2012, Google’s\nmarket capitalization\nmade it one of the largest American companies not in the\nDow Jones Industrial Average\n.\nStrategic acquisitions and monetizing Google’s search engine\nGoogle’s strong financial results reflected the rapid growth of Internet\nadvertising\nin general and Google’s popularity in particular. Analysts attributed part of that success to a shift in advertising spending toward the Internet and away from traditional media, including newspapers, magazines, and television. For example, American newspaper advertising fell from a peak of $64 billion in 2000 to $20.7 billion in 2011, while global online advertising grew from approximately $6 billion in 2000 to more than $72 billion in 2011.\nSince its founding, Google has spent large sums to secure what it has calculated to be significant Internet\nmarketing\nadvantages. For example, in 2003, Google spent $102 million to acquire\nApplied Semantics, the makers of\nAdSense\n, a service that signed up owners of websites to run various types of ads on their web pages. In 2006 Google again paid $102 million for another Web advertisement business,\ndMarc Broadcasting\n, and that same year it announced that it would pay $900 million over three and a half years for the right to sell ads on\nMyspace\n. In 2007 Google made its largest acquisition to date, buying online advertising firm\nDoubleClick\nfor $3.1 billion. Two years later the company responded to the explosive growth of the mobile applications market with a $750 million deal to acquire the mobile advertising network\nAdMob\n. All of these purchases were part of Google’s effort to expand from its search engine business into advertising by combining the various firms’\ndatabases\nof information in order to tailor ads to consumers’ individual preferences.\nOther services\nGoogle’s expansion, fueled largely by keyword-based Web advertising, provided it with a sound footing to compete in new Web services. Some were meant to broaden the company’s reach across the technology spectrum, but others, such as Google Maps and\nYouTube\n, would enhance Google’s\nsearch engine\ndominance by integrating the search experience with other user data, including geolocation, web browsing, and media usage.\nGmail\nIn 2004 Google began offering a free Web-based\nemail\naccount to select “beta” testers (a beta product being a product not yet in its final form). The service, known as Gmail, was opened to the general public in 2007 while still officially in its beta stage. One of the primary appeals of Gmail was that it gave users an email address that was independent of any particular\nInternet service provider\n(ISP), thus making it easier to maintain a permanent address. In addition, the service offered an unprecedented one gigabyte (one billion bytes) of free email storage space, although users were also presented with advertisements based on keywords that the Google search engine found in their messages.\nFailure to penetrate the\nChina\nmarket\nIn January 2006, Google launched Google.cn, with its search engine results page (SERP) filtered and censored by the government. But the company faced not only criticism from within the U.S., but also increasingly strict censorship from Chinese authorities, as well as hacking attempts targeting\nhuman rights\nactivists and foreign journalists.\nIn 2010, Google began redirecting its Chinese users from Google.cn to its unfiltered\nHong Kong\nsite, Google.com.hk, essentially shuttering its search operation in China. In 2018, Google initiated Project Dragonfly, an effort to revive its search business in China by adhering to the country’s strict censorship and data monitoring requirements. Once again, the backlash from human rights organizations—and many Google employees—proved to be too great, and Project Dragonfly was abruptly terminated.\nSince then, Google has maintained an arm’s-length relationship within China, holding minor partnership stakes in a few companies and, as of 2022, a roughly 3% share in the search engine market, where market leader\nBaidu\ndominates.\nGoogle later expanded the amount of free storage space given to users to seven gigabytes and allowed users to rent additional space. In 2007 the company acquired\nPostini, an e-mail services firm, for $625 million in order to improve Gmail’s security, especially in Google’s efforts to sign up businesses. In 2009 Google removed the beta status of Gmail, increasing its appeal to business users.\nGoogle Books\nIn the early 2000s, Google launched what might have been considered the largest and most ambitious library project ever attempted. Google was planning to scan and digitize all available books across the globe to create the world’s most comprehensive digital library. This project, which began as Google Print in 2004, became Google Books in 2005.\nMeanwhile, groups of authors and publishers filed suit to stop the company from making passages from their copyrighted books available over the\nInternet\n. In 2008, Google reached a legal settlement in which the company agreed to pay the groups $125 million for past transgressions, although users could continue to read for free up to 20% of each work scanned by Google. In exchange for allowing parts of their works to be read online, the authors and publishers would receive 63% of all advertising revenue generated by page views of their material on Google’s website.\nGoogle Books continues to operate, but its popularity and adoption as originally envisioned remains to be seen. In 2015, Google Books was estimated to have digitized 25 million books. A similar library project,\nProject Gutenberg\n, claimed to have 70 million books available in digital form as of 2024, while the number of digitized books in Google Books’ catalog remains largely unknown.","attrs_markdown":"[History & Society](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/History-Society)[Science & Tech](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/Science-Tech)[Biographies](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/Biographies)[Animals & Nature](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/Animals-Nature)[Geography & Travel](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/Geography-Travel)[Arts & Culture](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/Arts-Culture)[ProCon](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/procon)[Games & Quizzes](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/quiz\/browse)[Videos](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/videos)[On This Day](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/on-this-day)[One Good Fact](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/one-good-fact)[Dictionary](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/dictionary)\n\n- [Lifestyles & Social Issues](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Lifestyles-Social-Issues)\n- [Philosophy & Religion](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Philosophy-Religion)\n- [Politics, Law & Government](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Politics-Law-Government)\n- [World History](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/World-History)\n\n- [Health & Medicine](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Health-Medicine)\n- [Science](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Science)\n- [Technology](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Technology)\n\n- [Browse Biographies](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/biographies)\n\n- [Birds, Reptiles & Other Vertebrates](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Birds-Reptiles-Vertebrates)\n- [Environment](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Environment)\n- [Fossils & Geologic Time](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Fossil-Geologic-Time)\n- [Insects & Other Invertebrates](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Bugs-Mollusks-Invertebrates)\n- [Mammals](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Mammals)\n- [Plants](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Plants)\n\n- [Geography & Travel](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Geography-Travel)\n\n- [Entertainment & Pop Culture](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Entertainment-Pop-Culture)\n- [Literature](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Literature)\n- [Sports & Recreation](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Sports-Recreation)\n- [Visual Arts](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Visual-Arts)\n\n[Image Galleries](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/gallery\/browse)[Podcasts](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/podcasts)[Summaries](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/summary)[Top Questions](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/question)[Britannica Kids](https:\/\/kids.britannica.com\/)\n\n[![Britannica Money](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/money\/assets\/MoneyLogo-30x236-2x.png)](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money)\n\n[Household Finance](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/browse\/household-finance)\n\n[Investing](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/browse\/investing)\n\n[Trading](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/browse\/Trading)\n\n[Retirement](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/browse\/retirement)\n\n[Companies](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/browse\/Companies)\n\n[Biographies](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/browse\/Biographies)\n\n[Finance & the Economy](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/browse\/history-and-theory)\n\nTable of Contents\n***\n- [Introduction](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc#ref1017491-1)\n- [Early investment, rapid growth, and a 2004 IPO](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc#ref278422)\n- [Strategic acquisitions and monetizing Google’s search engine](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc#ref278423)\n- [Other services](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Other-services#ref278425)\n  - [Gmail](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Other-services#ref278427)\n  - [Google Books](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Other-services#ref278428)\n  - [Google Earth and Google Maps](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref278430)\n  - [Google Video and YouTube](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref278429)\n  - [Google Apps and Chrome](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref278431)\n  - [Android OS and entry into the smartphone market](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref279329)\n  - [Social networks and Google+](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref307016)\n- [Google becomes an Alphabet subsidiary](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref374986)\n- [Controversies](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref405566)\n  - [Military contracts](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref436656)\n  - [Antitrust scrutiny over search dominance](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref436657)\n- [References](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref1017491-references)\n\nRead More\n\n[![Sheryl Sandberg](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/58\/242358-050-0454B4AE\/Facebook-COO-Sheryl-Sandberg.jpg?c=crop&h=40&w=50) Sheryl Sandberg](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Sheryl-Sandberg)\n\n[![Yahoo corporate offices in Sunnyvale, California, with “Yahoo!” signage visible on the building in 2017.](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/57\/139857-050-ED88E688\/Headquarters-Yahoo-Inc-Sunnyvale-Calif.jpg?c=crop&h=40&w=50) Yahoo](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Yahoo-Inc)\n\n[![X logo](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/55\/247155-050-44D9EB78\/Twitter-rebrand-X.jpg?c=crop&h=40&w=50) X](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Twitter)\n\nTable Of Contents\n\n[Companies](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/browse\/Companies)\n\n[Communication Services](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/browse\/Communication-Services)\n\n# Google\nAmerican company\n\nPrint\n\nCite\n\nShare\n\nLinks\n\nAlso known as: Google Inc., Google LLC\n\n**Written by**Mark Hall,\n\n[Mark Hall](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/author\/Mark-Hall\/4349)\n\nCoauthor of *Sunburst: The Ascent of Sun Microsystems.*\n\nWilliam L. Hosch\n\n[William L. Hosch](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/author\/William-L-Hosch\/6481)\n\nWilliam L. Hosch was an editor at Encyclopædia Britannica.\n\n**Fact-checked by**The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica\n\n[The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/author\/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica\/4419)\n\nEncyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.\n\nArticle History\n\nTable of Contents\n***\n- [Introduction](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc#ref1017491-1)\n- [Early investment, rapid growth, and a 2004 IPO](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc#ref278422)\n- [Strategic acquisitions and monetizing Google’s search engine](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc#ref278423)\n- [Other services](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Other-services#ref278425)\n  - [Gmail](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Other-services#ref278427)\n  - [Google Books](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Other-services#ref278428)\n  - [Google Earth and Google Maps](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref278430)\n  - [Google Video and YouTube](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref278429)\n  - [Google Apps and Chrome](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref278431)\n  - [Android OS and entry into the smartphone market](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref279329)\n  - [Social networks and Google+](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref307016)\n- [Google becomes an Alphabet subsidiary](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref374986)\n- [Controversies](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref405566)\n  - [Military contracts](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref436656)\n  - [Antitrust scrutiny over search dominance](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref436657)\n- [References](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Google-Inc\/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref1017491-references)\n\nRead More\n\n[![Sheryl Sandberg](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/58\/242358-050-0454B4AE\/Facebook-COO-Sheryl-Sandberg.jpg?c=crop&h=40&w=50) Sheryl Sandberg](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Sheryl-Sandberg)\n\n[![Yahoo corporate offices in Sunnyvale, California, with “Yahoo!” signage visible on the building in 2017.](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/57\/139857-050-ED88E688\/Headquarters-Yahoo-Inc-Sunnyvale-Calif.jpg?c=crop&h=40&w=50) Yahoo](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Yahoo-Inc)\n\n[![X logo](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/55\/247155-050-44D9EB78\/Twitter-rebrand-X.jpg?c=crop&h=40&w=50) X](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Twitter)\n\nTable Of Contents\n\n![A photo of Google's headquarters, known as the Googleplex, featuring an Android robot (known as the bugdroid) in Mountain View, California. ](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/16\/254816-050-41C9577A\/Google-logo-Googleplex-headquarters-Mountain-View-California.jpg?w=385)\n\nOpen full sized image\n\nWelcome to the Googleplex.\n\n© Ken Wolter\/Dreamstime.com\n\nin full:\n\nGoogle LLC\n\nformerly:\n\nGoogle Inc. (1998–2017)\n\nDate:\n\n1998 - present\n\nTicker:\n\nGOOGL\n\nShare price:\n\n\\$299.99 (mkt close, Apr. 06, 2026)\n\nMarket cap:\n\n\\$3.63 tr.\n\nAnnual revenue:\n\n\\$402.84 bil.\n\nEarnings per share (prev. year):\n\n\\$10.8\n\nSector:\n\nCommunication Services\n\nIndustry:\n\nInteractive Media & Services\n\nCEO:\n\nMr. Sundar Pichai\n\nHeadquarters:\n\n[Mountain View](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Mountain-View-California)\n\nNews\n\n•\n\n[Samsung is discontinuing its texting app, tells impacted users to switch to Google Messages](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/news\/1017491\/823b3eb598611b127e66008ee4390da6)\n\n•\n\nApr. 7, 2026, 12:13 PM ET\n\n(AP)\n\n...(Show more)\n\nGoogle is an American [search engine](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/search-engine) company, founded in 1998 by [Sergey Brin](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Sergey-Brin) and [Larry Page](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Larry-Page). Since 2015, Google has been a subsidiary of the [holding company](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/holding-company) [Alphabet, Inc](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Alphabet-Inc). More than 70% of worldwide online search requests are handled by Google, placing it at the heart of most [Internet](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/Internet) users’ experience. It is one of the world’s most prominent [brands](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/brand). Its headquarters are in [Mountain View](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Mountain-View-California), [California](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/California-state).\n\nGoogle began as an online search firm, but it now offers more than 50 Internet services and products, from [e-mail](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/e-mail) and online document creation to [software](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/software) for [mobile phones](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/mobile-telephone) and [tablet computers](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/tablet-computer). In addition, its 2012 acquisition of Motorola Mobility put the company in the position to sell hardware in the form of mobile phones. Google’s broad product portfolio and size make it one of the top four influential companies in the high-tech marketplace, along with [Apple](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Apple-Inc), [IBM](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/International-Business-Machines-Corporation), and [Microsoft](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Microsoft-Corporation). Despite its myriad of products, the original search tool remains the core of Google’s success. In 2023, Alphabet took in \\$175 billion in revenue (57% of all Google revenue) from [advertising](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/advertising) based on users’ search requests.\n\n## Ranking and backlinks: A new kind of search engine\nBrin and Page, who met as graduate students at [Stanford University](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Stanford-University), were intrigued with the idea of extracting meaning from the mass of data accumulating on the Internet. They began working from Page’s dormitory room at Stanford to devise a new type of search technology, which they dubbed BackRub. The key was to leverage users’ own ranking abilities by tracking each website’s “backing links”—that is, the number of other pages linked to them.\n\nMost search engines simply returned a list of websites ranked by how often a search phrase appeared on them. Brin and Page incorporated into the search function the number of links each website had. A website with thousands of links would logically be more valuable than one with just a few links, and the search engine thus would place the heavily linked site higher on a list of possibilities.\n\nFurther, a link from a heavily linked website would be a more valuable “vote” than one from a more obscure website.\n\n## Early investment, rapid growth, and a 2004 IPO\nIn mid-1998 Brin and Page began receiving outside financing. (One of their first investors was Andy Bechtolsheim, a cofounder of [Sun Microsystems, Inc.](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Sun-Microsystems-Inc)). They ultimately raised about \\$1 million from investors, family, and friends and set up shop in [Menlo Park](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Menlo-Park-California), California, under the name Google, which was derived from a misspelling of Page’s original planned name, [*googol*](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/science\/googol) (a mathematical term for the number one followed by 100 zeroes). By mid-1999, when Google received a \\$25 million round of [venture capital](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/venture-capital) funding, it was processing 500,000 queries per day. Activity began to explode in 2000, when Google became the client search engine for one of the Web’s most popular sites, [Yahoo\\!](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Yahoo-Inc). By 2004, when Yahoo! dispensed with Google’s services, users were searching on Google 200 million times a day. That growth only continued; by the end of 2011, Google was handling some three billion searches per day. The company’s name became so ubiquitous that it entered the lexicon as a verb. To *google* became a common expression for searching the Internet.\n\n## **What do you think?**\n- **[Is the Internet “Making Us Stupid?”](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/procon\/Internet-debate)**\n\n**Explore the ProCon debate**\n\nTo accommodate this unprecedented mass of data, Google built 11 data centers around the world, each of them containing several hundred thousand servers (basically, [multiprocessor](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/multiprocessing) personal computers and hard drives mounted in specially constructed racks). The heart of Google’s operation, however, is built around three proprietary pieces of computer code: Google File System (GFS), Bigtable, and MapReduce. GFS handles the storage of data in “chunks” across several machines; Bigtable is the company’s database program; and MapReduce is used by Google to generate higher-level data (e.g., putting together an index of Web pages that contain the words “Chicago,” “theater,” and “participatory”).\n\n![Larry Page and Sergey Brin, creators of the online search engine Google](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/17\/101217-050-89474964\/Larry-Page-Sergey-Brin.jpg?w=385)\n\nOpen full sized image\n\nGoogle creators Larry Page (left) and Sergey Brin.\n\n© Google Inc. Used with permission.\n\nThe extraordinary growth of Google led to internal management problems. Almost from the beginning, investors felt that Brin and Page needed an experienced manager at the helm, and in 2001 they agreed to hire [Eric Schmidt](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Eric-Schmidt) as chairman and [chief executive officer](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/chief-executive-officer) (CEO) of the company. Schmidt, who had previously held the same positions at the software company Novell Inc., had a doctorate in [computer science](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/science\/computer-science) and melded well with the technocratic impulses of the founders. During Schmidt’s reign as CEO, Page served as president of products, and Brin was president of technology. The trio ran the company as a “triumvirate” until Page took on the CEO role in 2011, Schmidt became executive chairman, and Brin adopted the title of director of special projects.\n\nThe company’s [initial public offering](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/ipo-initial-public-offering) (IPO) in 2004 raised \\$1.66 billion for the company and made Brin and Page instant billionaires. In fact, the IPO created 7 billionaires and 900 millionaires from the early stockholders. The stock offering also made news because of the unusual way it was handled. Shares were sold in a public auction intended to put the average investor on an equal footing with financial industry professionals. Google was added to the [S\\&P 500 Index](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/SandP-500)) in 2006. By 2012, Google’s [market capitalization](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/understanding-market-capitalization) made it one of the largest American companies not in the [Dow Jones Industrial Average](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Dow-Jones-average).\n\n## Strategic acquisitions and monetizing Google’s search engine\nGoogle’s strong financial results reflected the rapid growth of Internet [advertising](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/advertising) in general and Google’s popularity in particular. Analysts attributed part of that success to a shift in advertising spending toward the Internet and away from traditional media, including newspapers, magazines, and television. For example, American newspaper advertising fell from a peak of \\$64 billion in 2000 to \\$20.7 billion in 2011, while global online advertising grew from approximately \\$6 billion in 2000 to more than \\$72 billion in 2011.\n\nSince its founding, Google has spent large sums to secure what it has calculated to be significant Internet [marketing](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/marketing) advantages. For example, in 2003, Google spent \\$102 million to acquire Applied Semantics, the makers of **AdSense**, a service that signed up owners of websites to run various types of ads on their web pages. In 2006 Google again paid \\$102 million for another Web advertisement business, **dMarc Broadcasting**, and that same year it announced that it would pay \\$900 million over three and a half years for the right to sell ads on [**Myspace**](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Myspace). In 2007 Google made its largest acquisition to date, buying online advertising firm **DoubleClick** for \\$3.1 billion. Two years later the company responded to the explosive growth of the mobile applications market with a \\$750 million deal to acquire the mobile advertising network **AdMob**. All of these purchases were part of Google’s effort to expand from its search engine business into advertising by combining the various firms’ [databases](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/database) of information in order to tailor ads to consumers’ individual preferences.\n\n## Other services\nGoogle’s expansion, fueled largely by keyword-based Web advertising, provided it with a sound footing to compete in new Web services. Some were meant to broaden the company’s reach across the technology spectrum, but others, such as Google Maps and [YouTube](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/YouTube), would enhance Google’s [search engine](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/search-engine) dominance by integrating the search experience with other user data, including geolocation, web browsing, and media usage.\n\n## [Gmail](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Gmail)\nIn 2004 Google began offering a free Web-based [email](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/e-mail) account to select “beta” testers (a beta product being a product not yet in its final form). The service, known as Gmail, was opened to the general public in 2007 while still officially in its beta stage. One of the primary appeals of Gmail was that it gave users an email address that was independent of any particular [Internet service provider](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/Internet-service-provider) (ISP), thus making it easier to maintain a permanent address. In addition, the service offered an unprecedented one gigabyte (one billion bytes) of free email storage space, although users were also presented with advertisements based on keywords that the Google search engine found in their messages.\n\n## Failure to penetrate the [China](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/China) market\nIn January 2006, Google launched Google.cn, with its search engine results page (SERP) filtered and censored by the government. But the company faced not only criticism from within the U.S., but also increasingly strict censorship from Chinese authorities, as well as hacking attempts targeting [human rights](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/human-rights) activists and foreign journalists.\n\nIn 2010, Google began redirecting its Chinese users from Google.cn to its unfiltered [Hong Kong](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Hong-Kong) site, Google.com.hk, essentially shuttering its search operation in China. In 2018, Google initiated Project Dragonfly, an effort to revive its search business in China by adhering to the country’s strict censorship and data monitoring requirements. Once again, the backlash from human rights organizations—and many Google employees—proved to be too great, and Project Dragonfly was abruptly terminated.\n\nSince then, Google has maintained an arm’s-length relationship within China, holding minor partnership stakes in a few companies and, as of 2022, a roughly 3% share in the search engine market, where market leader **Baidu** dominates.\n\nGoogle later expanded the amount of free storage space given to users to seven gigabytes and allowed users to rent additional space. In 2007 the company acquired Postini, an e-mail services firm, for \\$625 million in order to improve Gmail’s security, especially in Google’s efforts to sign up businesses. In 2009 Google removed the beta status of Gmail, increasing its appeal to business users.\n\n## [Google Books](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Google-Books)\nIn the early 2000s, Google launched what might have been considered the largest and most ambitious library project ever attempted. Google was planning to scan and digitize all available books across the globe to create the world’s most comprehensive digital library. This project, which began as Google Print in 2004, became Google Books in 2005.\n\nMeanwhile, groups of authors and publishers filed suit to stop the company from making passages from their copyrighted books available over the [Internet](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/Internet). In 2008, Google reached a legal settlement in which the company agreed to pay the groups \\$125 million for past transgressions, although users could continue to read for free up to 20% of each work scanned by Google. In exchange for allowing parts of their works to be read online, the authors and publishers would receive 63% of all advertising revenue generated by page views of their material on Google’s website.\n\nGoogle Books continues to operate, but its popularity and adoption as originally envisioned remains to be seen. In 2015, Google Books was estimated to have digitized 25 million books. A similar library project, [Project Gutenberg](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Project-Gutenberg), claimed to have 70 million books available in digital form as of 2024, while the number of digitized books in Google Books’ catalog remains largely unknown.\n\n[![Britannica Money Logo](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/money\/assets\/Money-475x60-footer-2x.png?h=47&w=390)](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money)\n\n[About Us](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/about)[Privacy Policy](https:\/\/corporate.britannica.com\/privacy-policy-2)[Terms & Conditions](https:\/\/corporate.britannica.com\/termsofuse.html)\n\n© 2026 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.","attrs_readable_markdown":"![A photo of Google's headquarters, known as the Googleplex, featuring an Android robot (known as the bugdroid) in Mountain View, California. ](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/16\/254816-050-41C9577A\/Google-logo-Googleplex-headquarters-Mountain-View-California.jpg?w=385)\n\nOpen full sized image\n\nWelcome to the Googleplex.\n\n© Ken Wolter\/Dreamstime.com\n\nin full:\n\nGoogle LLC\n\nformerly:\n\nGoogle Inc. (1998–2017)\n\nDate:\n\n1998 - present\n\nTicker:\n\nGOOGL\n\nShare price:\n\n\\$299.99 (mkt close, Apr. 06, 2026)\n\nMarket cap:\n\n\\$3.63 tr.\n\nAnnual revenue:\n\n\\$402.84 bil.\n\nEarnings per share (prev. year):\n\n\\$10.8\n\nSector:\n\nCommunication Services\n\nIndustry:\n\nInteractive Media & Services\n\nCEO:\n\nMr. Sundar Pichai\n\nNews\n\n•\n\nGoogle is an American [search engine](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/search-engine) company, founded in 1998 by [Sergey Brin](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Sergey-Brin) and [Larry Page](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Larry-Page). Since 2015, Google has been a subsidiary of the [holding company](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/holding-company) [Alphabet, Inc](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Alphabet-Inc). More than 70% of worldwide online search requests are handled by Google, placing it at the heart of most [Internet](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/Internet) users’ experience. It is one of the world’s most prominent [brands](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/brand). Its headquarters are in [Mountain View](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Mountain-View-California), [California](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/California-state).\n\nGoogle began as an online search firm, but it now offers more than 50 Internet services and products, from [e-mail](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/e-mail) and online document creation to [software](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/software) for [mobile phones](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/mobile-telephone) and [tablet computers](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/tablet-computer). In addition, its 2012 acquisition of Motorola Mobility put the company in the position to sell hardware in the form of mobile phones. Google’s broad product portfolio and size make it one of the top four influential companies in the high-tech marketplace, along with [Apple](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Apple-Inc), [IBM](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/International-Business-Machines-Corporation), and [Microsoft](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Microsoft-Corporation). Despite its myriad of products, the original search tool remains the core of Google’s success. In 2023, Alphabet took in \\$175 billion in revenue (57% of all Google revenue) from [advertising](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/advertising) based on users’ search requests.\n\n## Ranking and backlinks: A new kind of search engine\nBrin and Page, who met as graduate students at [Stanford University](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Stanford-University), were intrigued with the idea of extracting meaning from the mass of data accumulating on the Internet. They began working from Page’s dormitory room at Stanford to devise a new type of search technology, which they dubbed BackRub. The key was to leverage users’ own ranking abilities by tracking each website’s “backing links”—that is, the number of other pages linked to them.\n\nMost search engines simply returned a list of websites ranked by how often a search phrase appeared on them. Brin and Page incorporated into the search function the number of links each website had. A website with thousands of links would logically be more valuable than one with just a few links, and the search engine thus would place the heavily linked site higher on a list of possibilities.\n\nFurther, a link from a heavily linked website would be a more valuable “vote” than one from a more obscure website.\n\n## Early investment, rapid growth, and a 2004 IPO\nIn mid-1998 Brin and Page began receiving outside financing. (One of their first investors was Andy Bechtolsheim, a cofounder of [Sun Microsystems, Inc.](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Sun-Microsystems-Inc)). They ultimately raised about \\$1 million from investors, family, and friends and set up shop in [Menlo Park](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Menlo-Park-California), California, under the name Google, which was derived from a misspelling of Page’s original planned name, [*googol*](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/science\/googol) (a mathematical term for the number one followed by 100 zeroes). By mid-1999, when Google received a \\$25 million round of [venture capital](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/venture-capital) funding, it was processing 500,000 queries per day. Activity began to explode in 2000, when Google became the client search engine for one of the Web’s most popular sites, [Yahoo\\!](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Yahoo-Inc). By 2004, when Yahoo! dispensed with Google’s services, users were searching on Google 200 million times a day. That growth only continued; by the end of 2011, Google was handling some three billion searches per day. The company’s name became so ubiquitous that it entered the lexicon as a verb. To *google* became a common expression for searching the Internet.\n\nTo accommodate this unprecedented mass of data, Google built 11 data centers around the world, each of them containing several hundred thousand servers (basically, [multiprocessor](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/multiprocessing) personal computers and hard drives mounted in specially constructed racks). The heart of Google’s operation, however, is built around three proprietary pieces of computer code: Google File System (GFS), Bigtable, and MapReduce. GFS handles the storage of data in “chunks” across several machines; Bigtable is the company’s database program; and MapReduce is used by Google to generate higher-level data (e.g., putting together an index of Web pages that contain the words “Chicago,” “theater,” and “participatory”).\n\n![Larry Page and Sergey Brin, creators of the online search engine Google](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/17\/101217-050-89474964\/Larry-Page-Sergey-Brin.jpg?w=385)\n\nOpen full sized image\n\nGoogle creators Larry Page (left) and Sergey Brin.\n\n© Google Inc. Used with permission.\n\nThe extraordinary growth of Google led to internal management problems. Almost from the beginning, investors felt that Brin and Page needed an experienced manager at the helm, and in 2001 they agreed to hire [Eric Schmidt](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Eric-Schmidt) as chairman and [chief executive officer](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/chief-executive-officer) (CEO) of the company. Schmidt, who had previously held the same positions at the software company Novell Inc., had a doctorate in [computer science](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/science\/computer-science) and melded well with the technocratic impulses of the founders. During Schmidt’s reign as CEO, Page served as president of products, and Brin was president of technology. The trio ran the company as a “triumvirate” until Page took on the CEO role in 2011, Schmidt became executive chairman, and Brin adopted the title of director of special projects.\n\nThe company’s [initial public offering](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/ipo-initial-public-offering) (IPO) in 2004 raised \\$1.66 billion for the company and made Brin and Page instant billionaires. In fact, the IPO created 7 billionaires and 900 millionaires from the early stockholders. The stock offering also made news because of the unusual way it was handled. Shares were sold in a public auction intended to put the average investor on an equal footing with financial industry professionals. Google was added to the [S\\&P 500 Index](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/SandP-500)) in 2006. By 2012, Google’s [market capitalization](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/understanding-market-capitalization) made it one of the largest American companies not in the [Dow Jones Industrial Average](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Dow-Jones-average).\n\n## Strategic acquisitions and monetizing Google’s search engine\nGoogle’s strong financial results reflected the rapid growth of Internet [advertising](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/advertising) in general and Google’s popularity in particular. Analysts attributed part of that success to a shift in advertising spending toward the Internet and away from traditional media, including newspapers, magazines, and television. For example, American newspaper advertising fell from a peak of \\$64 billion in 2000 to \\$20.7 billion in 2011, while global online advertising grew from approximately \\$6 billion in 2000 to more than \\$72 billion in 2011.\n\nSince its founding, Google has spent large sums to secure what it has calculated to be significant Internet [marketing](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/marketing) advantages. For example, in 2003, Google spent \\$102 million to acquire Applied Semantics, the makers of **AdSense**, a service that signed up owners of websites to run various types of ads on their web pages. In 2006 Google again paid \\$102 million for another Web advertisement business, **dMarc Broadcasting**, and that same year it announced that it would pay \\$900 million over three and a half years for the right to sell ads on [**Myspace**](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Myspace). In 2007 Google made its largest acquisition to date, buying online advertising firm **DoubleClick** for \\$3.1 billion. Two years later the company responded to the explosive growth of the mobile applications market with a \\$750 million deal to acquire the mobile advertising network **AdMob**. All of these purchases were part of Google’s effort to expand from its search engine business into advertising by combining the various firms’ [databases](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/database) of information in order to tailor ads to consumers’ individual preferences.\n\n## Other services\nGoogle’s expansion, fueled largely by keyword-based Web advertising, provided it with a sound footing to compete in new Web services. Some were meant to broaden the company’s reach across the technology spectrum, but others, such as Google Maps and [YouTube](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/YouTube), would enhance Google’s [search engine](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/search-engine) dominance by integrating the search experience with other user data, including geolocation, web browsing, and media usage.\n\n## [Gmail](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Gmail)\nIn 2004 Google began offering a free Web-based [email](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/e-mail) account to select “beta” testers (a beta product being a product not yet in its final form). The service, known as Gmail, was opened to the general public in 2007 while still officially in its beta stage. One of the primary appeals of Gmail was that it gave users an email address that was independent of any particular [Internet service provider](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/Internet-service-provider) (ISP), thus making it easier to maintain a permanent address. In addition, the service offered an unprecedented one gigabyte (one billion bytes) of free email storage space, although users were also presented with advertisements based on keywords that the Google search engine found in their messages.\n\n## Failure to penetrate the [China](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/China) market\nIn January 2006, Google launched Google.cn, with its search engine results page (SERP) filtered and censored by the government. But the company faced not only criticism from within the U.S., but also increasingly strict censorship from Chinese authorities, as well as hacking attempts targeting [human rights](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/human-rights) activists and foreign journalists.\n\nIn 2010, Google began redirecting its Chinese users from Google.cn to its unfiltered [Hong Kong](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Hong-Kong) site, Google.com.hk, essentially shuttering its search operation in China. In 2018, Google initiated Project Dragonfly, an effort to revive its search business in China by adhering to the country’s strict censorship and data monitoring requirements. Once again, the backlash from human rights organizations—and many Google employees—proved to be too great, and Project Dragonfly was abruptly terminated.\n\nSince then, Google has maintained an arm’s-length relationship within China, holding minor partnership stakes in a few companies and, as of 2022, a roughly 3% share in the search engine market, where market leader **Baidu** dominates.\n\nGoogle later expanded the amount of free storage space given to users to seven gigabytes and allowed users to rent additional space. In 2007 the company acquired Postini, an e-mail services firm, for \\$625 million in order to improve Gmail’s security, especially in Google’s efforts to sign up businesses. In 2009 Google removed the beta status of Gmail, increasing its appeal to business users.\n\n## [Google Books](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Google-Books)\nIn the early 2000s, Google launched what might have been considered the largest and most ambitious library project ever attempted. Google was planning to scan and digitize all available books across the globe to create the world’s most comprehensive digital library. This project, which began as Google Print in 2004, became Google Books in 2005.\n\nMeanwhile, groups of authors and publishers filed suit to stop the company from making passages from their copyrighted books available over the [Internet](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/Internet). In 2008, Google reached a legal settlement in which the company agreed to pay the groups \\$125 million for past transgressions, although users could continue to read for free up to 20% of each work scanned by Google. In exchange for allowing parts of their works to be read online, the authors and publishers would receive 63% of all advertising revenue generated by page views of their material on Google’s website.\n\nGoogle Books continues to operate, but its popularity and adoption as originally envisioned remains to be seen. In 2015, Google Books was estimated to have digitized 25 million books. A similar library project, [Project Gutenberg](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Project-Gutenberg), claimed to have 70 million books available in digital form as of 2024, while the number of digitized books in Google Books’ catalog remains largely unknown.","meta_canonical":null}

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Boilerpipe Text	Open full sized image Welcome to the Googleplex. © Ken Wolter/Dreamstime.com in full: Google LLC formerly: Google Inc. (1998–2017) Date: 1998 - present Ticker: GOOGL Share price: $299.99 (mkt close, Apr. 06, 2026) Market cap: $3.63 tr. Annual revenue: $402.84 bil. Earnings per share (prev. year): $10.8 Sector: Communication Services Industry: Interactive Media & Services CEO: Mr. Sundar Pichai News • Google is an American search engine company, founded in 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page . Since 2015, Google has been a subsidiary of the holding company Alphabet, Inc . More than 70% of worldwide online search requests are handled by Google, placing it at the heart of most Internet users’ experience. It is one of the world’s most prominent brands . Its headquarters are in Mountain View , California . Google began as an online search firm, but it now offers more than 50 Internet services and products, from e-mail and online document creation to software for mobile phones and tablet computers . In addition, its 2012 acquisition of Motorola Mobility put the company in the position to sell hardware in the form of mobile phones. Google’s broad product portfolio and size make it one of the top four influential companies in the high-tech marketplace, along with Apple , IBM , and Microsoft . Despite its myriad of products, the original search tool remains the core of Google’s success. In 2023, Alphabet took in $175 billion in revenue (57% of all Google revenue) from advertising based on users’ search requests. Ranking and backlinks: A new kind of search engine Brin and Page, who met as graduate students at Stanford University , were intrigued with the idea of extracting meaning from the mass of data accumulating on the Internet. They began working from Page’s dormitory room at Stanford to devise a new type of search technology, which they dubbed BackRub. The key was to leverage users’ own ranking abilities by tracking each website’s “backing links”—that is, the number of other pages linked to them. Most search engines simply returned a list of websites ranked by how often a search phrase appeared on them. Brin and Page incorporated into the search function the number of links each website had. A website with thousands of links would logically be more valuable than one with just a few links, and the search engine thus would place the heavily linked site higher on a list of possibilities. Further, a link from a heavily linked website would be a more valuable “vote” than one from a more obscure website. Early investment, rapid growth, and a 2004 IPO In mid-1998 Brin and Page began receiving outside financing. (One of their first investors was Andy Bechtolsheim, a cofounder of Sun Microsystems, Inc. ). They ultimately raised about $1 million from investors, family, and friends and set up shop in Menlo Park , California, under the name Google, which was derived from a misspelling of Page’s original planned name, googol (a mathematical term for the number one followed by 100 zeroes). By mid-1999, when Google received a $25 million round of venture capital funding, it was processing 500,000 queries per day. Activity began to explode in 2000, when Google became the client search engine for one of the Web’s most popular sites, Yahoo! . By 2004, when Yahoo! dispensed with Google’s services, users were searching on Google 200 million times a day. That growth only continued; by the end of 2011, Google was handling some three billion searches per day. The company’s name became so ubiquitous that it entered the lexicon as a verb. To google became a common expression for searching the Internet. To accommodate this unprecedented mass of data, Google built 11 data centers around the world, each of them containing several hundred thousand servers (basically, multiprocessor personal computers and hard drives mounted in specially constructed racks). The heart of Google’s operation, however, is built around three proprietary pieces of computer code: Google File System (GFS), Bigtable, and MapReduce. GFS handles the storage of data in “chunks” across several machines; Bigtable is the company’s database program; and MapReduce is used by Google to generate higher-level data (e.g., putting together an index of Web pages that contain the words “Chicago,” “theater,” and “participatory”). Open full sized image Google creators Larry Page (left) and Sergey Brin. © Google Inc. Used with permission. The extraordinary growth of Google led to internal management problems. Almost from the beginning, investors felt that Brin and Page needed an experienced manager at the helm, and in 2001 they agreed to hire Eric Schmidt as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the company. Schmidt, who had previously held the same positions at the software company Novell Inc., had a doctorate in computer science and melded well with the technocratic impulses of the founders. During Schmidt’s reign as CEO, Page served as president of products, and Brin was president of technology. The trio ran the company as a “triumvirate” until Page took on the CEO role in 2011, Schmidt became executive chairman, and Brin adopted the title of director of special projects. The company’s initial public offering (IPO) in 2004 raised $1.66 billion for the company and made Brin and Page instant billionaires. In fact, the IPO created 7 billionaires and 900 millionaires from the early stockholders. The stock offering also made news because of the unusual way it was handled. Shares were sold in a public auction intended to put the average investor on an equal footing with financial industry professionals. Google was added to the S&P 500 Index ) in 2006. By 2012, Google’s market capitalization made it one of the largest American companies not in the Dow Jones Industrial Average . Strategic acquisitions and monetizing Google’s search engine Google’s strong financial results reflected the rapid growth of Internet advertising in general and Google’s popularity in particular. Analysts attributed part of that success to a shift in advertising spending toward the Internet and away from traditional media, including newspapers, magazines, and television. For example, American newspaper advertising fell from a peak of $64 billion in 2000 to $20.7 billion in 2011, while global online advertising grew from approximately $6 billion in 2000 to more than $72 billion in 2011. Since its founding, Google has spent large sums to secure what it has calculated to be significant Internet marketing advantages. For example, in 2003, Google spent $102 million to acquire Applied Semantics, the makers of AdSense , a service that signed up owners of websites to run various types of ads on their web pages. In 2006 Google again paid $102 million for another Web advertisement business, dMarc Broadcasting , and that same year it announced that it would pay $900 million over three and a half years for the right to sell ads on Myspace . In 2007 Google made its largest acquisition to date, buying online advertising firm DoubleClick for $3.1 billion. Two years later the company responded to the explosive growth of the mobile applications market with a $750 million deal to acquire the mobile advertising network AdMob . All of these purchases were part of Google’s effort to expand from its search engine business into advertising by combining the various firms’ databases of information in order to tailor ads to consumers’ individual preferences. Other services Google’s expansion, fueled largely by keyword-based Web advertising, provided it with a sound footing to compete in new Web services. Some were meant to broaden the company’s reach across the technology spectrum, but others, such as Google Maps and YouTube , would enhance Google’s search engine dominance by integrating the search experience with other user data, including geolocation, web browsing, and media usage. Gmail In 2004 Google began offering a free Web-based email account to select “beta” testers (a beta product being a product not yet in its final form). The service, known as Gmail, was opened to the general public in 2007 while still officially in its beta stage. One of the primary appeals of Gmail was that it gave users an email address that was independent of any particular Internet service provider (ISP), thus making it easier to maintain a permanent address. In addition, the service offered an unprecedented one gigabyte (one billion bytes) of free email storage space, although users were also presented with advertisements based on keywords that the Google search engine found in their messages. Failure to penetrate the China market In January 2006, Google launched Google.cn, with its search engine results page (SERP) filtered and censored by the government. But the company faced not only criticism from within the U.S., but also increasingly strict censorship from Chinese authorities, as well as hacking attempts targeting human rights activists and foreign journalists. In 2010, Google began redirecting its Chinese users from Google.cn to its unfiltered Hong Kong site, Google.com.hk, essentially shuttering its search operation in China. In 2018, Google initiated Project Dragonfly, an effort to revive its search business in China by adhering to the country’s strict censorship and data monitoring requirements. Once again, the backlash from human rights organizations—and many Google employees—proved to be too great, and Project Dragonfly was abruptly terminated. Since then, Google has maintained an arm’s-length relationship within China, holding minor partnership stakes in a few companies and, as of 2022, a roughly 3% share in the search engine market, where market leader Baidu dominates. Google later expanded the amount of free storage space given to users to seven gigabytes and allowed users to rent additional space. In 2007 the company acquired Postini, an e-mail services firm, for $625 million in order to improve Gmail’s security, especially in Google’s efforts to sign up businesses. In 2009 Google removed the beta status of Gmail, increasing its appeal to business users. Google Books In the early 2000s, Google launched what might have been considered the largest and most ambitious library project ever attempted. Google was planning to scan and digitize all available books across the globe to create the world’s most comprehensive digital library. This project, which began as Google Print in 2004, became Google Books in 2005. Meanwhile, groups of authors and publishers filed suit to stop the company from making passages from their copyrighted books available over the Internet . In 2008, Google reached a legal settlement in which the company agreed to pay the groups $125 million for past transgressions, although users could continue to read for free up to 20% of each work scanned by Google. In exchange for allowing parts of their works to be read online, the authors and publishers would receive 63% of all advertising revenue generated by page views of their material on Google’s website. Google Books continues to operate, but its popularity and adoption as originally envisioned remains to be seen. In 2015, Google Books was estimated to have digitized 25 million books. A similar library project, Project Gutenberg , claimed to have 70 million books available in digital form as of 2024, while the number of digitized books in Google Books’ catalog remains largely unknown.
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[Visual Arts](https://www.britannica.com/browse/Visual-Arts) [Image Galleries](https://www.britannica.com/gallery/browse)[Podcasts](https://www.britannica.com/podcasts)[Summaries](https://www.britannica.com/summary)[Top Questions](https://www.britannica.com/question)[Britannica Kids](https://kids.britannica.com/) [![Britannica Money](https://cdn.britannica.com/money/assets/MoneyLogo-30x236-2x.png)](https://www.britannica.com/money) [Household Finance](https://www.britannica.com/money/browse/household-finance) [Investing](https://www.britannica.com/money/browse/investing) [Trading](https://www.britannica.com/money/browse/Trading) [Retirement](https://www.britannica.com/money/browse/retirement) [Companies](https://www.britannica.com/money/browse/Companies) [Biographies](https://www.britannica.com/money/browse/Biographies) [Finance & the Economy](https://www.britannica.com/money/browse/history-and-theory) Table of Contents * - [Introduction](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc#ref1017491-1) - [Early investment, rapid growth, and a 2004 IPO](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc#ref278422) - [Strategic acquisitions and monetizing Google’s search engine](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc#ref278423) - [Other services](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Other-services#ref278425) - [Gmail](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Other-services#ref278427) - [Google Books](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Other-services#ref278428) - [Google Earth and Google Maps](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref278430) - [Google Video and YouTube](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref278429) - [Google Apps and Chrome](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref278431) - [Android OS and entry into the smartphone market](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref279329) - [Social networks and Google+](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref307016) - [Google becomes an Alphabet subsidiary](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref374986) - [Controversies](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref405566) - [Military contracts](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref436656) - [Antitrust scrutiny over search dominance](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref436657) - [References](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref1017491-references) Read More [![Sheryl Sandberg](https://cdn.britannica.com/58/242358-050-0454B4AE/Facebook-COO-Sheryl-Sandberg.jpg?c=crop&h=40&w=50) Sheryl Sandberg](https://www.britannica.com/money/Sheryl-Sandberg) [![Yahoo corporate offices in Sunnyvale, California, with “Yahoo!” signage visible on the building in 2017.](https://cdn.britannica.com/57/139857-050-ED88E688/Headquarters-Yahoo-Inc-Sunnyvale-Calif.jpg?c=crop&h=40&w=50) Yahoo](https://www.britannica.com/money/Yahoo-Inc) [![X logo](https://cdn.britannica.com/55/247155-050-44D9EB78/Twitter-rebrand-X.jpg?c=crop&h=40&w=50) X](https://www.britannica.com/money/Twitter) Table Of Contents [Companies](https://www.britannica.com/money/browse/Companies) [Communication Services](https://www.britannica.com/money/browse/Communication-Services) # Google American company Print Cite Share Links Also known as: Google Inc., Google LLC Written by*Mark Hall, [Mark Hall](https://www.britannica.com/money/author/Mark-Hall/4349) Coauthor of Sunburst: The Ascent of Sun Microsystems.* William L. Hosch [William L. Hosch](https://www.britannica.com/money/author/William-L-Hosch/6481) William L. Hosch was an editor at Encyclopædia Britannica. Fact-checked byThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica [The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/money/author/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419) Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Article History Table of Contents *** - [Introduction](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc#ref1017491-1) - [Early investment, rapid growth, and a 2004 IPO](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc#ref278422) - [Strategic acquisitions and monetizing Google’s search engine](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc#ref278423) - [Other services](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Other-services#ref278425) - [Gmail](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Other-services#ref278427) - [Google Books](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Other-services#ref278428) - [Google Earth and Google Maps](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref278430) - [Google Video and YouTube](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref278429) - [Google Apps and Chrome](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref278431) - [Android OS and entry into the smartphone market](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref279329) - [Social networks and Google+](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref307016) - [Google becomes an Alphabet subsidiary](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref374986) - [Controversies](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref405566) - [Military contracts](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref436656) - [Antitrust scrutiny over search dominance](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref436657) - [References](https://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc/Google-Earth-and-Google-Maps#ref1017491-references) Read More [![Sheryl Sandberg](https://cdn.britannica.com/58/242358-050-0454B4AE/Facebook-COO-Sheryl-Sandberg.jpg?c=crop&h=40&w=50) Sheryl Sandberg](https://www.britannica.com/money/Sheryl-Sandberg) [![Yahoo corporate offices in Sunnyvale, California, with “Yahoo!” signage visible on the building in 2017.](https://cdn.britannica.com/57/139857-050-ED88E688/Headquarters-Yahoo-Inc-Sunnyvale-Calif.jpg?c=crop&h=40&w=50) Yahoo](https://www.britannica.com/money/Yahoo-Inc) [![X logo](https://cdn.britannica.com/55/247155-050-44D9EB78/Twitter-rebrand-X.jpg?c=crop&h=40&w=50) X](https://www.britannica.com/money/Twitter) Table Of Contents ![A photo of Google's headquarters, known as the Googleplex, featuring an Android robot (known as the bugdroid) in Mountain View, California. ](https://cdn.britannica.com/16/254816-050-41C9577A/Google-logo-Googleplex-headquarters-Mountain-View-California.jpg?w=385) Open full sized image Welcome to the Googleplex. © Ken Wolter/Dreamstime.com in full: Google LLC formerly: Google Inc. (1998–2017) Date: 1998 - present Ticker: GOOGL Share price: \$299.99 (mkt close, Apr. 06, 2026) Market cap: \$3.63 tr. Annual revenue: \$402.84 bil. Earnings per share (prev. year): \$10.8 Sector: Communication Services Industry: Interactive Media & Services CEO: Mr. Sundar Pichai Headquarters: [Mountain View](https://www.britannica.com/place/Mountain-View-California) News • [Samsung is discontinuing its texting app, tells impacted users to switch to Google Messages](https://www.britannica.com/news/1017491/823b3eb598611b127e66008ee4390da6) • Apr. 7, 2026, 12:13 PM ET (AP) ...(Show more) Google is an American [search engine](https://www.britannica.com/technology/search-engine) company, founded in 1998 by [Sergey Brin](https://www.britannica.com/money/Sergey-Brin) and [Larry Page](https://www.britannica.com/money/Larry-Page). Since 2015, Google has been a subsidiary of the [holding company](https://www.britannica.com/money/holding-company) [Alphabet, Inc](https://www.britannica.com/money/Alphabet-Inc). More than 70% of worldwide online search requests are handled by Google, placing it at the heart of most [Internet](https://www.britannica.com/technology/Internet) users’ experience. It is one of the world’s most prominent [brands](https://www.britannica.com/money/brand). Its headquarters are in [Mountain View](https://www.britannica.com/place/Mountain-View-California), [California](https://www.britannica.com/place/California-state). Google began as an online search firm, but it now offers more than 50 Internet services and products, from [e-mail](https://www.britannica.com/technology/e-mail) and online document creation to [software](https://www.britannica.com/technology/software) for [mobile phones](https://www.britannica.com/technology/mobile-telephone) and [tablet computers](https://www.britannica.com/technology/tablet-computer). In addition, its 2012 acquisition of Motorola Mobility put the company in the position to sell hardware in the form of mobile phones. Google’s broad product portfolio and size make it one of the top four influential companies in the high-tech marketplace, along with [Apple](https://www.britannica.com/money/Apple-Inc), [IBM](https://www.britannica.com/money/International-Business-Machines-Corporation), and [Microsoft](https://www.britannica.com/money/Microsoft-Corporation). Despite its myriad of products, the original search tool remains the core of Google’s success. In 2023, Alphabet took in \$175 billion in revenue (57% of all Google revenue) from [advertising](https://www.britannica.com/money/advertising) based on users’ search requests. ## Ranking and backlinks: A new kind of search engine Brin and Page, who met as graduate students at [Stanford University](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Stanford-University), were intrigued with the idea of extracting meaning from the mass of data accumulating on the Internet. They began working from Page’s dormitory room at Stanford to devise a new type of search technology, which they dubbed BackRub. The key was to leverage users’ own ranking abilities by tracking each website’s “backing links”—that is, the number of other pages linked to them. Most search engines simply returned a list of websites ranked by how often a search phrase appeared on them. Brin and Page incorporated into the search function the number of links each website had. A website with thousands of links would logically be more valuable than one with just a few links, and the search engine thus would place the heavily linked site higher on a list of possibilities. Further, a link from a heavily linked website would be a more valuable “vote” than one from a more obscure website. ## Early investment, rapid growth, and a 2004 IPO In mid-1998 Brin and Page began receiving outside financing. (One of their first investors was Andy Bechtolsheim, a cofounder of [Sun Microsystems, Inc.](https://www.britannica.com/money/Sun-Microsystems-Inc)). They ultimately raised about \$1 million from investors, family, and friends and set up shop in [Menlo Park](https://www.britannica.com/place/Menlo-Park-California), California, under the name Google, which was derived from a misspelling of Page’s original planned name, [googol](https://www.britannica.com/science/googol) (a mathematical term for the number one followed by 100 zeroes). By mid-1999, when Google received a \$25 million round of [venture capital](https://www.britannica.com/money/venture-capital) funding, it was processing 500,000 queries per day. Activity began to explode in 2000, when Google became the client search engine for one of the Web’s most popular sites, [Yahoo\!](https://www.britannica.com/money/Yahoo-Inc). By 2004, when Yahoo! dispensed with Google’s services, users were searching on Google 200 million times a day. That growth only continued; by the end of 2011, Google was handling some three billion searches per day. The company’s name became so ubiquitous that it entered the lexicon as a verb. To google became a common expression for searching the Internet. ## What do you think? - [Is the Internet “Making Us Stupid?”](https://www.britannica.com/procon/Internet-debate) Explore the ProCon debate To accommodate this unprecedented mass of data, Google built 11 data centers around the world, each of them containing several hundred thousand servers (basically, [multiprocessor](https://www.britannica.com/technology/multiprocessing) personal computers and hard drives mounted in specially constructed racks). The heart of Google’s operation, however, is built around three proprietary pieces of computer code: Google File System (GFS), Bigtable, and MapReduce. GFS handles the storage of data in “chunks” across several machines; Bigtable is the company’s database program; and MapReduce is used by Google to generate higher-level data (e.g., putting together an index of Web pages that contain the words “Chicago,” “theater,” and “participatory”). ![Larry Page and Sergey Brin, creators of the online search engine Google](https://cdn.britannica.com/17/101217-050-89474964/Larry-Page-Sergey-Brin.jpg?w=385) Open full sized image Google creators Larry Page (left) and Sergey Brin. © Google Inc. Used with permission. The extraordinary growth of Google led to internal management problems. Almost from the beginning, investors felt that Brin and Page needed an experienced manager at the helm, and in 2001 they agreed to hire [Eric Schmidt](https://www.britannica.com/money/Eric-Schmidt) as chairman and [chief executive officer](https://www.britannica.com/money/chief-executive-officer) (CEO) of the company. Schmidt, who had previously held the same positions at the software company Novell Inc., had a doctorate in [computer science](https://www.britannica.com/science/computer-science) and melded well with the technocratic impulses of the founders. During Schmidt’s reign as CEO, Page served as president of products, and Brin was president of technology. The trio ran the company as a “triumvirate” until Page took on the CEO role in 2011, Schmidt became executive chairman, and Brin adopted the title of director of special projects. The company’s [initial public offering](https://www.britannica.com/money/ipo-initial-public-offering) (IPO) in 2004 raised \$1.66 billion for the company and made Brin and Page instant billionaires. In fact, the IPO created 7 billionaires and 900 millionaires from the early stockholders. The stock offering also made news because of the unusual way it was handled. Shares were sold in a public auction intended to put the average investor on an equal footing with financial industry professionals. Google was added to the [S\&P 500 Index](https://www.britannica.com/money/SandP-500)) in 2006. By 2012, Google’s [market capitalization](https://www.britannica.com/money/understanding-market-capitalization) made it one of the largest American companies not in the [Dow Jones Industrial Average](https://www.britannica.com/money/Dow-Jones-average). ## Strategic acquisitions and monetizing Google’s search engine Google’s strong financial results reflected the rapid growth of Internet [advertising](https://www.britannica.com/money/advertising) in general and Google’s popularity in particular. Analysts attributed part of that success to a shift in advertising spending toward the Internet and away from traditional media, including newspapers, magazines, and television. For example, American newspaper advertising fell from a peak of \$64 billion in 2000 to \$20.7 billion in 2011, while global online advertising grew from approximately \$6 billion in 2000 to more than \$72 billion in 2011. Since its founding, Google has spent large sums to secure what it has calculated to be significant Internet [marketing](https://www.britannica.com/money/marketing) advantages. For example, in 2003, Google spent \$102 million to acquire Applied Semantics, the makers of AdSense, a service that signed up owners of websites to run various types of ads on their web pages. In 2006 Google again paid \$102 million for another Web advertisement business, dMarc Broadcasting, and that same year it announced that it would pay \$900 million over three and a half years for the right to sell ads on [Myspace](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Myspace). In 2007 Google made its largest acquisition to date, buying online advertising firm DoubleClick for \$3.1 billion. Two years later the company responded to the explosive growth of the mobile applications market with a \$750 million deal to acquire the mobile advertising network AdMob. All of these purchases were part of Google’s effort to expand from its search engine business into advertising by combining the various firms’ [databases](https://www.britannica.com/technology/database) of information in order to tailor ads to consumers’ individual preferences. ## Other services Google’s expansion, fueled largely by keyword-based Web advertising, provided it with a sound footing to compete in new Web services. Some were meant to broaden the company’s reach across the technology spectrum, but others, such as Google Maps and [YouTube](https://www.britannica.com/topic/YouTube), would enhance Google’s [search engine](https://www.britannica.com/technology/search-engine) dominance by integrating the search experience with other user data, including geolocation, web browsing, and media usage. ## [Gmail](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gmail) In 2004 Google began offering a free Web-based [email](https://www.britannica.com/technology/e-mail) account to select “beta” testers (a beta product being a product not yet in its final form). The service, known as Gmail, was opened to the general public in 2007 while still officially in its beta stage. One of the primary appeals of Gmail was that it gave users an email address that was independent of any particular [Internet service provider](https://www.britannica.com/technology/Internet-service-provider) (ISP), thus making it easier to maintain a permanent address. In addition, the service offered an unprecedented one gigabyte (one billion bytes) of free email storage space, although users were also presented with advertisements based on keywords that the Google search engine found in their messages. ## Failure to penetrate the [China](https://www.britannica.com/place/China) market In January 2006, Google launched Google.cn, with its search engine results page (SERP) filtered and censored by the government. But the company faced not only criticism from within the U.S., but also increasingly strict censorship from Chinese authorities, as well as hacking attempts targeting [human rights](https://www.britannica.com/topic/human-rights) activists and foreign journalists. In 2010, Google began redirecting its Chinese users from Google.cn to its unfiltered [Hong Kong](https://www.britannica.com/place/Hong-Kong) site, Google.com.hk, essentially shuttering its search operation in China. In 2018, Google initiated Project Dragonfly, an effort to revive its search business in China by adhering to the country’s strict censorship and data monitoring requirements. Once again, the backlash from human rights organizations—and many Google employees—proved to be too great, and Project Dragonfly was abruptly terminated. Since then, Google has maintained an arm’s-length relationship within China, holding minor partnership stakes in a few companies and, as of 2022, a roughly 3% share in the search engine market, where market leader Baidu dominates. Google later expanded the amount of free storage space given to users to seven gigabytes and allowed users to rent additional space. In 2007 the company acquired Postini, an e-mail services firm, for \$625 million in order to improve Gmail’s security, especially in Google’s efforts to sign up businesses. In 2009 Google removed the beta status of Gmail, increasing its appeal to business users. ## [Google Books](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Google-Books) In the early 2000s, Google launched what might have been considered the largest and most ambitious library project ever attempted. Google was planning to scan and digitize all available books across the globe to create the world’s most comprehensive digital library. This project, which began as Google Print in 2004, became Google Books in 2005. Meanwhile, groups of authors and publishers filed suit to stop the company from making passages from their copyrighted books available over the [Internet](https://www.britannica.com/technology/Internet). In 2008, Google reached a legal settlement in which the company agreed to pay the groups \$125 million for past transgressions, although users could continue to read for free up to 20% of each work scanned by Google. In exchange for allowing parts of their works to be read online, the authors and publishers would receive 63% of all advertising revenue generated by page views of their material on Google’s website. Google Books continues to operate, but its popularity and adoption as originally envisioned remains to be seen. In 2015, Google Books was estimated to have digitized 25 million books. A similar library project, [Project Gutenberg](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Project-Gutenberg), claimed to have 70 million books available in digital form as of 2024, while the number of digitized books in Google Books’ catalog remains largely unknown. 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Readable Markdown	![A photo of Google's headquarters, known as the Googleplex, featuring an Android robot (known as the bugdroid) in Mountain View, California. ](https://cdn.britannica.com/16/254816-050-41C9577A/Google-logo-Googleplex-headquarters-Mountain-View-California.jpg?w=385) Open full sized image Welcome to the Googleplex. © Ken Wolter/Dreamstime.com in full: Google LLC formerly: Google Inc. (1998–2017) Date: 1998 - present Ticker: GOOGL Share price: \$299.99 (mkt close, Apr. 06, 2026) Market cap: \$3.63 tr. Annual revenue: \$402.84 bil. Earnings per share (prev. year): \$10.8 Sector: Communication Services Industry: Interactive Media & Services CEO: Mr. Sundar Pichai News • Google is an American [search engine](https://www.britannica.com/technology/search-engine) company, founded in 1998 by [Sergey Brin](https://www.britannica.com/money/Sergey-Brin) and [Larry Page](https://www.britannica.com/money/Larry-Page). Since 2015, Google has been a subsidiary of the [holding company](https://www.britannica.com/money/holding-company) [Alphabet, Inc](https://www.britannica.com/money/Alphabet-Inc). More than 70% of worldwide online search requests are handled by Google, placing it at the heart of most [Internet](https://www.britannica.com/technology/Internet) users’ experience. It is one of the world’s most prominent [brands](https://www.britannica.com/money/brand). Its headquarters are in [Mountain View](https://www.britannica.com/place/Mountain-View-California), [California](https://www.britannica.com/place/California-state). Google began as an online search firm, but it now offers more than 50 Internet services and products, from [e-mail](https://www.britannica.com/technology/e-mail) and online document creation to [software](https://www.britannica.com/technology/software) for [mobile phones](https://www.britannica.com/technology/mobile-telephone) and [tablet computers](https://www.britannica.com/technology/tablet-computer). In addition, its 2012 acquisition of Motorola Mobility put the company in the position to sell hardware in the form of mobile phones. Google’s broad product portfolio and size make it one of the top four influential companies in the high-tech marketplace, along with [Apple](https://www.britannica.com/money/Apple-Inc), [IBM](https://www.britannica.com/money/International-Business-Machines-Corporation), and [Microsoft](https://www.britannica.com/money/Microsoft-Corporation). Despite its myriad of products, the original search tool remains the core of Google’s success. In 2023, Alphabet took in \$175 billion in revenue (57% of all Google revenue) from [advertising](https://www.britannica.com/money/advertising) based on users’ search requests. ## Ranking and backlinks: A new kind of search engine Brin and Page, who met as graduate students at [Stanford University](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Stanford-University), were intrigued with the idea of extracting meaning from the mass of data accumulating on the Internet. They began working from Page’s dormitory room at Stanford to devise a new type of search technology, which they dubbed BackRub. The key was to leverage users’ own ranking abilities by tracking each website’s “backing links”—that is, the number of other pages linked to them. Most search engines simply returned a list of websites ranked by how often a search phrase appeared on them. Brin and Page incorporated into the search function the number of links each website had. A website with thousands of links would logically be more valuable than one with just a few links, and the search engine thus would place the heavily linked site higher on a list of possibilities. Further, a link from a heavily linked website would be a more valuable “vote” than one from a more obscure website. ## Early investment, rapid growth, and a 2004 IPO In mid-1998 Brin and Page began receiving outside financing. (One of their first investors was Andy Bechtolsheim, a cofounder of [Sun Microsystems, Inc.](https://www.britannica.com/money/Sun-Microsystems-Inc)). They ultimately raised about \$1 million from investors, family, and friends and set up shop in [Menlo Park](https://www.britannica.com/place/Menlo-Park-California), California, under the name Google, which was derived from a misspelling of Page’s original planned name, [googol](https://www.britannica.com/science/googol) (a mathematical term for the number one followed by 100 zeroes). By mid-1999, when Google received a \$25 million round of [venture capital](https://www.britannica.com/money/venture-capital) funding, it was processing 500,000 queries per day. Activity began to explode in 2000, when Google became the client search engine for one of the Web’s most popular sites, [Yahoo\!](https://www.britannica.com/money/Yahoo-Inc). By 2004, when Yahoo! dispensed with Google’s services, users were searching on Google 200 million times a day. That growth only continued; by the end of 2011, Google was handling some three billion searches per day. The company’s name became so ubiquitous that it entered the lexicon as a verb. To google became a common expression for searching the Internet. To accommodate this unprecedented mass of data, Google built 11 data centers around the world, each of them containing several hundred thousand servers (basically, [multiprocessor](https://www.britannica.com/technology/multiprocessing) personal computers and hard drives mounted in specially constructed racks). The heart of Google’s operation, however, is built around three proprietary pieces of computer code: Google File System (GFS), Bigtable, and MapReduce. GFS handles the storage of data in “chunks” across several machines; Bigtable is the company’s database program; and MapReduce is used by Google to generate higher-level data (e.g., putting together an index of Web pages that contain the words “Chicago,” “theater,” and “participatory”). ![Larry Page and Sergey Brin, creators of the online search engine Google](https://cdn.britannica.com/17/101217-050-89474964/Larry-Page-Sergey-Brin.jpg?w=385) Open full sized image Google creators Larry Page (left) and Sergey Brin. © Google Inc. Used with permission. The extraordinary growth of Google led to internal management problems. Almost from the beginning, investors felt that Brin and Page needed an experienced manager at the helm, and in 2001 they agreed to hire [Eric Schmidt](https://www.britannica.com/money/Eric-Schmidt) as chairman and [chief executive officer](https://www.britannica.com/money/chief-executive-officer) (CEO) of the company. Schmidt, who had previously held the same positions at the software company Novell Inc., had a doctorate in [computer science](https://www.britannica.com/science/computer-science) and melded well with the technocratic impulses of the founders. During Schmidt’s reign as CEO, Page served as president of products, and Brin was president of technology. The trio ran the company as a “triumvirate” until Page took on the CEO role in 2011, Schmidt became executive chairman, and Brin adopted the title of director of special projects. The company’s [initial public offering](https://www.britannica.com/money/ipo-initial-public-offering) (IPO) in 2004 raised \$1.66 billion for the company and made Brin and Page instant billionaires. In fact, the IPO created 7 billionaires and 900 millionaires from the early stockholders. The stock offering also made news because of the unusual way it was handled. Shares were sold in a public auction intended to put the average investor on an equal footing with financial industry professionals. Google was added to the [S\&P 500 Index](https://www.britannica.com/money/SandP-500)) in 2006. By 2012, Google’s [market capitalization](https://www.britannica.com/money/understanding-market-capitalization) made it one of the largest American companies not in the [Dow Jones Industrial Average](https://www.britannica.com/money/Dow-Jones-average). ## Strategic acquisitions and monetizing Google’s search engine Google’s strong financial results reflected the rapid growth of Internet [advertising](https://www.britannica.com/money/advertising) in general and Google’s popularity in particular. Analysts attributed part of that success to a shift in advertising spending toward the Internet and away from traditional media, including newspapers, magazines, and television. For example, American newspaper advertising fell from a peak of \$64 billion in 2000 to \$20.7 billion in 2011, while global online advertising grew from approximately \$6 billion in 2000 to more than \$72 billion in 2011. Since its founding, Google has spent large sums to secure what it has calculated to be significant Internet [marketing](https://www.britannica.com/money/marketing) advantages. For example, in 2003, Google spent \$102 million to acquire Applied Semantics, the makers of AdSense, a service that signed up owners of websites to run various types of ads on their web pages. In 2006 Google again paid \$102 million for another Web advertisement business, dMarc Broadcasting, and that same year it announced that it would pay \$900 million over three and a half years for the right to sell ads on [Myspace](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Myspace). In 2007 Google made its largest acquisition to date, buying online advertising firm DoubleClick for \$3.1 billion. Two years later the company responded to the explosive growth of the mobile applications market with a \$750 million deal to acquire the mobile advertising network AdMob. All of these purchases were part of Google’s effort to expand from its search engine business into advertising by combining the various firms’ [databases](https://www.britannica.com/technology/database) of information in order to tailor ads to consumers’ individual preferences. ## Other services Google’s expansion, fueled largely by keyword-based Web advertising, provided it with a sound footing to compete in new Web services. Some were meant to broaden the company’s reach across the technology spectrum, but others, such as Google Maps and [YouTube](https://www.britannica.com/topic/YouTube), would enhance Google’s [search engine](https://www.britannica.com/technology/search-engine) dominance by integrating the search experience with other user data, including geolocation, web browsing, and media usage. ## [Gmail](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gmail) In 2004 Google began offering a free Web-based [email](https://www.britannica.com/technology/e-mail) account to select “beta” testers (a beta product being a product not yet in its final form). The service, known as Gmail, was opened to the general public in 2007 while still officially in its beta stage. One of the primary appeals of Gmail was that it gave users an email address that was independent of any particular [Internet service provider](https://www.britannica.com/technology/Internet-service-provider) (ISP), thus making it easier to maintain a permanent address. In addition, the service offered an unprecedented one gigabyte (one billion bytes) of free email storage space, although users were also presented with advertisements based on keywords that the Google search engine found in their messages. ## Failure to penetrate the [China](https://www.britannica.com/place/China) market In January 2006, Google launched Google.cn, with its search engine results page (SERP) filtered and censored by the government. But the company faced not only criticism from within the U.S., but also increasingly strict censorship from Chinese authorities, as well as hacking attempts targeting [human rights](https://www.britannica.com/topic/human-rights) activists and foreign journalists. In 2010, Google began redirecting its Chinese users from Google.cn to its unfiltered [Hong Kong](https://www.britannica.com/place/Hong-Kong) site, Google.com.hk, essentially shuttering its search operation in China. In 2018, Google initiated Project Dragonfly, an effort to revive its search business in China by adhering to the country’s strict censorship and data monitoring requirements. Once again, the backlash from human rights organizations—and many Google employees—proved to be too great, and Project Dragonfly was abruptly terminated. Since then, Google has maintained an arm’s-length relationship within China, holding minor partnership stakes in a few companies and, as of 2022, a roughly 3% share in the search engine market, where market leader Baidu dominates. Google later expanded the amount of free storage space given to users to seven gigabytes and allowed users to rent additional space. In 2007 the company acquired Postini, an e-mail services firm, for \$625 million in order to improve Gmail’s security, especially in Google’s efforts to sign up businesses. In 2009 Google removed the beta status of Gmail, increasing its appeal to business users. ## [Google Books](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Google-Books) In the early 2000s, Google launched what might have been considered the largest and most ambitious library project ever attempted. Google was planning to scan and digitize all available books across the globe to create the world’s most comprehensive digital library. This project, which began as Google Print in 2004, became Google Books in 2005. Meanwhile, groups of authors and publishers filed suit to stop the company from making passages from their copyrighted books available over the [Internet](https://www.britannica.com/technology/Internet). In 2008, Google reached a legal settlement in which the company agreed to pay the groups \$125 million for past transgressions, although users could continue to read for free up to 20% of each work scanned by Google. In exchange for allowing parts of their works to be read online, the authors and publishers would receive 63% of all advertising revenue generated by page views of their material on Google’s website. Google Books continues to operate, but its popularity and adoption as originally envisioned remains to be seen. In 2015, Google Books was estimated to have digitized 25 million books. A similar library project, [Project Gutenberg](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Project-Gutenberg), claimed to have 70 million books available in digital form as of 2024, while the number of digitized books in Google Books’ catalog remains largely unknown.
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