How did the name Google come about?

Introduction

As exaggerated as it sounds, a life without Google is almost impossible to imagine for many people. We use not only the search engine Google, but also Gmail, Google Maps, Google Translate and other services that make life just a little bit easier. We use Google so much that "googling" has even become a verb. But how exactly did the name Google originate? Funny detail: a spelling mistake played an important role in it.

Google was born in 1996 as a research project of founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They were classmates at Stanford University and together created a new kind of online search engine. Page and Brin developed a different approach from the search engines already operating at the time. Those ranked positions of Web pages based on the number of times a keyword appeared on that page. Page and Brin came up with PageRank. The more often your site is referenced from other sites and the more relevant those references are, the higher your Web site ranks. The gist of this idea is that the more important a Web site is, the more likely other Web sites are to link to it. In short, Google's predecessor revolved around the number of backlinks and the quality of those backlinks.

How did the name Google come about?

The origin of the name "Google" can be traced to a creative pun on the mathematical term "googol. A googol is a huge number, namely 10 to the power of 100, or a 1 followed by 100 zeros. The founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, chose this name to emphasize the enormous potential of their search engine, which aimed to index and search a wealth of information. However, while registering the domain name, a spelling mistake was made, creating the word "Google. This unique name eventually stuck and is now known worldwide as the name of the leading search engine.

The success of Google

Google was not the first online search engine. Yahoo and Altavista dominated the market in 1997, but Google's search system scored well right away. Google quickly knew how to show the most relevant and accurate search results. In addition, the search engine was uncluttered and did not yet use ads. On Sept. 4, 1998, Google Inc. was officially registered as a company. Today, Google is one of the most powerful companies in the world. Tens of thousands of people work there and Google's services are used every day by billions of people worldwide. Therefore, companies that want to be successful online need to make sure they rank in top positions in Google.

Google's revenue model

Google makes money mainly through online ads, but it also has other sources of income. We list them for you:

1. Ads: Most of Google's revenue comes from ads through its platforms such as Google Search, YouTube, Google Maps and Google Display Network. Advertisers pay Google to display their ads based on different payment models, such as cost per click (CPC) or cost per thousand impressions (CPM). Google Ads (formerly AdWords) and Google AdSense are two of the company's main advertising products.
2. Google Cloud: Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a suite of cloud computing services offered by Google, including data storage, machine learning, and app development services. Companies pay Google to use these services based on their usage and requirements.
3. Google Play: Google makes money by taking a percentage of revenue generated through its app store, Google Play. This includes app purchases, in-app purchases and subscriptions to apps and digital content such as music, movies, books and games.
4. Hardware: Google also sells hardware products, such as the Pixel smartphones, Google Nest smart home devices, and Google Chromecast streaming devices. Sales of these products contribute to the company's revenue.
5. Other services: Google also makes money through other services such as Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), a suite of productivity and collaboration tools for businesses, and YouTube Premium, a subscription service that provides ad-free access to YouTube and exclusive content.

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