Google Commemoration Day – September 7, 2024

History of Google Commemoration Day

Sometime in January of 1996, Stanford University Ph.D. students Sergey Brin and Larry Page began a research project. This project involved creating a search engine, this project would turn out to be the origin of what we now know as Google.

They developed an algorithm tagged “PageRank.” Its job was to identify the relationships between websites. It then assigned a relevance value to a site based on the number of links it had to others. This was in contrast with other search engines that assigned relevance based on the number of times the search term appeared on the page.

Originally called BackRub, they chose the name Google (a misspelling of “googol”) because it represents the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. This symbolizes Google’s commitment to providing information and the infinite nature of information on the web.

In 1997, the domain name for Google was registered on September 15. With over $1 million raised by investors, they were incorporated in 1998. On September 7, they set up shop in California; the date becoming Google Commemoration Day. During that period, Google was responding to over 10,000 queries per day.

The company grew and moved its base of operations to Palo Alto, California in 1999. They relocated to their current headquarters in Mountain View California in 2003. At this point, Google was fielding over three million search queries per day. The main office known as the Googleplex is famous for its informal work environment and innovative style.

Google expanded over time from a search engine, providing wide-ranging services including Google Mail, Google Docs, and Google Drive. Alphabet Inc. was created in 2015 as a result of restructuring within the company, with Google becoming the main subsidiary. Despite facing criticism on topics such as privacy issues and search neutrality there is no denying the influence of Google in today’s digital world.