SEO Articles

Google - A Bit of History


The first question most people have is, "What the heck is a "Google?" It is a play on the word "googol," which is the mathematical figure 1 followed by 100 zeros. Depending on the level of your love for math, this is either the greatest or lamest name for a search engine. Regardless, the clever kids at Google have turned it into a cultural standard.

The Beginning

Larry Page and Sergey Brin co-founded Google in January of 1996, then known as BackRub. The boys were in the early twenties and classic computer geeks. Sergey was born in Moscow, alum of the University of Michigan and visiting Stanford. Larry was assigned to be his guide. During this visit, they obviously hit it off or today nobody would give a hoot about linking strategies.

Although two men and the name "BackRub" may raise some questions, the name actually referred to a method for producing search engine rankings. Specifically, the BackRub search engine was designed to analyze the "back links" to a site. Although BackRub developed a following with those in the know, nothing much happened for a few years.

1998

As with most new businesses, the boys needed some serious cash. The brass at Yahoo was interested, but initially passed. Sun Microsystems, of all companies, provided an answer. Andy Bechtolsheim was one of the founders of Sun and, thus, had the necessary deep pockets. $100,000 later, the new search engine company was on the way to stardom.

A New Name

As legend has it, BackRub became Google for a rather humorous reason. Apparently, Bechtolsheim accidentally made the $100k check out to "Google, Inc." You can make your own guess as to which one of the boys said, "Hey, I have an idea for a new name." In September of 1998, Google opened a small office in Menlo Park, California. The rest, as they say, is history.

Today, Google is based in Mountain View, California. Google prefers email communication, but you can get a live voice by calling (650) 623-4000. If you really want to talk to them, refuse a charge from the company on the credit card you use for Adwords. They will contact you pretty quickly!

The company went public in 2004 [Symbol: GOOG] and has a stock value of around $250 per share. Larry and Sergey are sickeningly wealthy. One can assume that Andy Bechtolsheim is also doing all right.

The Future

In the last year or so, Google has certainly received its fair share of criticism. PageRank is almost useless in relation to ranking in search results. At the time of this writing, PageRank hasn't worked for three days, which means a change, shuffle, dance or whatever you want to call it is coming.

On the competition front, things are a bit murky. It seems a week doesn't go by without a patent lawsuit being filed against the company. MSN and Yahoo have started to raise the level of competition and more will be coming. Google's reliance on AOL as a traffic source is also a bit troubling given the continual loss of market share by the company that nearly brought Time Warner down. Gmail is dogged by patent issues, not to mention questions about violations of the privacy of users. All and all, things are not as rosy compared to a few years ago, but they can hardly be called bad.

Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to predicting if Google will become just another search engine. Personally, I think it will, but not because of any of the above. Instead, the evolution of the Internet suggests there will be a next "big thing." Who knows, maybe Google will get a Grub [Grub.org] in its Nutch [Nutch.org].

Halstatt Pires is with http://www.marketingtitan.com - an Internet marketing and advertising company comprised of a search engine optimization specialist providing meta tag optimization services and Internet marketing consultant providing internet marketing solutions through integrated design and programming services.


MORE RESOURCES:

SEO Watchdog Takes the Guesswork Out of Finding a Good SEO Provider
MarketWatch - 18 hours ago
Companies specializing in SEO services have boomed in the last decade; however, not all of them have got what it takes to send a site flying up the ladder ...


Local Matters Announces Robust Search Traffic Management Application
MarketWatch - 10 hours ago
With Traffic Director, publishers can see millions of qualified consumer visits to thousands of SEO-friendly advertiser profile pages while optimizing ...
Traffic Engine High Performance Search Technology Earns Praise at ... MarketWatch
all 18 news articles


Search Engine Optimization Firm ArteWorks SEO Ranked #1 SEO Site ...
MarketWatch - Nov 18, 2008
The SEO company rankings published by TopSEOs is the trusted guide used by those seeking the best in the internet marketing and search engine optimization ...


Kirk Communications Announces Expanded Search Engine Optimization ...
The Open Press (press release) - Nov 18, 2008
As part of its new SEO service, Kirk Communications works with clients to improve the volume and quality of traffic to their web sites via keyword coding ...
MorePro Announces Contract Renewal with Long-Time SEO Client "The ... Times of the Internet
all 4 news articles


Microsoft's search guru on SEO, digital marketing trends
BtoB Magazine, NY - 14 hours ago
By Christopher Hosford Duane Forrester is senior program manager of search engine optimization with Microsoft Corp., sits on the board of the Search Engine ...


TechCrunch

Insidious New SEO Ad Product Will Be Hard For Google To Detect
TechCrunch, CA - 12 hours ago
... others include in content - they’re full blown links without any notation (like a nofollow) that they are advertisements meant primarily for SEO juice. ...


Top 10 Tips SEO
Promotion World (press release), CA - 22 hours ago
by Vishal goyal The secrets to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) success are elusive. The tricks that once worked could get your site ignored these days—or, ...


SEO Dreams are Made of This
Search Engine Watch - Nov 18, 2008
By Aaron Shear, Search Engine Watch, Nov 18, 2008 The term "SEO dreaming" was suggested in a session at a recent search marketing conference that spoke ...


Clump of dark matter may loom near solar system
Reuters - 10 hours ago
... positrons, protons and antiprotons that can be observed by scientists," Eun-Suk Seo of the University of Maryland said in a statement. ...
Mysterious Source of High-Energy Cosmic Radiation Discovered MarketWatch
all 44 news articles


AME Info

A2Z Creatorz joins hand with leading SEO providers in Tunisia
AME Info, United Arab Emirates - 1 hour ago
A2Z Creatorz and Access 2 eBusiness joins hangs to market services of SEO in Pakistan and Canada. Likewise to market Web Services of A2Z Creatorz in Tunis. ...
Stock TV partnership with A2Z Creatorz AME Info
all 2 news articles

SEO - Google News

Home | Sitemap | Forums | Contact Us | Advertise
© 2006 SEO Articles. A Real Web Talk Presentation.
Network Sites : Index Rated Directory | SEO Care Directory | Humour Inc. | Free Mobile Ringtones | A1hosts | SEO Blog
the four required words