Google LLC is a huge American technology company. It focuses on things like information technology, online advertising, search engines, email, cloud computing, software, and artificial intelligence (AI). Many people call it one of the most powerful companies in the world. Google is part of a bigger company called Alphabet Inc..

Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two computer scientists, started Google in 1998. The company became public in 2004. In 2015, Google became the biggest part of Alphabet Inc. Sundar Pichai is the CEO of Google and also of Alphabet.

Google started with its famous Google Search engine. Since then, it has grown a lot. It now offers many products and services. These include Gmail for email, Google Maps for directions, YouTube for videos, Google Chrome for browsing the internet, and Android for phones. Google also makes smartphones like the Google Pixel and smart home devices like Google Nest. Many of these products are very popular around the world.

Google Search and YouTube are two of the most visited websites globally. Google is a leader in search engines, maps, email, office tools, video platforms, and mobile operating systems. The company has faced discussions about its size and how it works with other businesses.

The Story of Google
Google's Products and Services
Google's Company Culture and Offices
Fun Facts About Google
See also

The Story of Google

How Google Began

Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 2003

Google started in January 1996. It was a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They were both students at Stanford University in California, USA.

Larry and Sergey thought about a new way to rank websites. Most search engines just counted how many times words appeared. Their idea was to look at how websites were linked to each other. They called this idea PageRank. It helped figure out how important a website was based on links.

They first called their search engine "BackRub." This was because it checked "backlinks" to websites. Later, they changed the name to Google. This name came from a misspelling of "googol". A googol is a huge number: 1 followed by 100 zeros. They chose this name to show that their search engine would organize a vast amount of information.

In August 1998, Google received its first big investment of $100,000. This helped them officially start the company. They even used their friend's garage as their first office! Craig Silverstein was their very first employee.

Google's first homepage in 1998 was very simple.

In 1998, Larry and Sergey tried to sell Google to Yahoo for $1 million, but Yahoo said no. This turned out to be a big missed chance for Yahoo!

Growing Bigger

In March 1999, Google moved its offices to Palo Alto, California. The next year, Google started selling ads. These ads appeared next to search results. They were simple text ads to keep the page clean. In June 2000, Google became the main search engine for Yahoo!.

In 2001, Eric Schmidt joined Google as CEO. He helped guide the company's growth. In 2003, Google moved to a new office complex. This place became known as the Googleplex. It's a fun name, like "googolplex," another huge number.

By this time, "Google" became a common word. People started saying "to google something" when they searched for information online. This word was even added to dictionaries!

Becoming a Public Company

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011

On August 19, 2004, Google became a public company. This meant anyone could buy shares of the company. This helped Google grow even more.

In October 2006, Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion. YouTube is now one of the most popular video-sharing websites in the world. Google also bought Waze in 2013, which is a popular navigation app.

In 2015, Google reorganized and became part of a new parent company called Alphabet Inc.. Google is the largest part of Alphabet. Sundar Pichai became the CEO of Google in 2015. He later also became the CEO of Alphabet in 2019.

Google has faced discussions about its workplace environment and employee relations. The company has also faced legal discussions about its business practices and how it competes with other companies.

Recent Developments

Entrance of Google and DeepMind offices in London

In January 2014, Google acquired DeepMind Technologies, an AI company from London. DeepMind's AlphaGo program later became the first computer to beat a human champion at the game of Go. This showed how powerful AI was becoming.

In November 2024, Google announced a new AI hub in Saudi Arabia. This hub aims to help the region's economy and technology grow. It will create AI solutions for areas like healthcare and finance.

In March 2025, Google agreed to buy Wiz, Inc., a cybersecurity company, for $32 billion. This was Google's biggest purchase ever. It will help make AI companies more secure.

In July 2025, the U.S. Department of Defense gave Google a $200 million contract for AI in the military. Other companies like Anthropic and OpenAI also received contracts.

In September 2025, a judge ruled that Google does not have to sell its Chrome browser or Android operating system. However, Google cannot have exclusive contracts for its search and app products. It must also share search data with other companies.

In March 2026, Google signed an energy pledge at the White House. This means they will pay for new ways to generate electricity for their data centers.

Google's Products and Services

How Google Helps You Search

Google at ad-tech London, 2010

Google's main product is its Google Search engine. It looks through billions of web pages. This helps you find the information you need using keywords. Google Search is the most popular search engine in the world.

Google also has Google News, which summarizes news articles. Google Books lets you search inside books. You can also use Google for shopping, finance, and finding flights.

How Google Makes Money: Advertising

Most of Google's money comes from advertising. When you search for something, you might see ads related to your search. Website owners can also put Google ads on their sites. Google helps businesses show their ads to people who might be interested. This is how Google can offer many of its services for free.

Smart AI Tools from Google

Google uses artificial intelligence (AI) in many ways. Gemini is Google's AI chatbot. It can answer questions and help you with tasks. Google has also created AI tools like Imagen for making images from text. Veo can create videos from text.

AI Overviews are now part of Google Search. They give you AI-generated summaries of search results. Google also has SynthID Detector. This tool helps identify content made with Google's AI products. NotebookLM helps you summarize documents. LearnLM is a family of AI tutors to help you learn.

Everyday Tools and Services

Google offers many online tools for daily use:

Gmail for sending and receiving emails.
Google Calendar for organizing your schedule.
Google Maps and Google Earth for finding places and exploring the world.
Google Drive for storing your files online.
Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides for schoolwork or projects.
Google Photos for saving and sharing your pictures.
Google Keep for taking notes.
Google Translate for understanding different languages.
YouTube for watching and sharing videos.
Google Classroom for school assignments and communication.

Software and Devices

Google develops the Android operating system for mobile phones. It also makes versions for smartwatches (Wear OS), TVs (Android TV), and cars (Android Auto).

Google also created the Google Chrome web browser. ChromeOS is an operating system based on Chrome.

For hardware, Google makes:

Google Pixel smartphones.
Chromebook laptops.
Chromecast devices to stream content to your TV.
Google Cardboard and Daydream View for virtual reality.
Google Nest smart speakers and displays that answer questions and control smart home devices.
Google Nest Wifi to improve home Wi-Fi.

Services for Businesses and the Internet

Google's Dublin Ireland office, headquarters of Google Ads for Europe

Google Workspace is a set of Google services for businesses and organizations. It includes Gmail, Drive, and Docs with extra tools and support.

Google Fiber is a project to build very fast internet networks in some cities. Project Fi (now Google Fi) is a mobile phone service that uses different networks to keep you connected.

Google is also part of the OpenWallet Foundation. This group works on creating open-source software for digital wallets.

Google's Company Culture and Offices

How Google Works

Google is often listed as one of the best companies to work for. Its philosophy includes ideas like "you can make money without doing evil" and "work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun."

Google encourages its engineers to spend 20% of their work time on projects they are interested in. This is called Innovation Time Off. Some popular Google services, like Gmail and Google News, started this way!

Google has faced discussions about its workplace environment and employee relations.

Where Google Works

Google's New York City office building houses its largest advertising sales team.

Google's main headquarters is in Mountain View, California. It's called "the Googleplex." This name is a fun play on the word "googolplex," which is an even bigger number than a googol!

Google has over 78 offices in more than 50 countries around the world. Some of its biggest offices are in New York City and London. In September 2025, Google opened a new AI Centre in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, UK.

Google's Infrastructure

Google has many data centers around the world. These are like giant computer brains that store and process all the information. Google even has its own special underwater cables. These cables help connect different parts of the world with fast internet.

Protecting Our Planet

Google works to be environmentally friendly. It has installed thousands of solar panels at its headquarters. This helps power its offices with clean energy. Google aims to be carbon neutral in its operations. This means balancing the carbon it releases with actions that remove carbon.

Google invests in renewable energy projects like wind farms. Since 2017, Google has bought enough renewable energy to match 100% of the energy used by its data centers and offices. In September 2019, Google announced a $2 billion investment in wind and solar energy. By 2020, Google had offset all its carbon emissions since 1998. It plans to use only carbon-free energy by 2030.

Fun Facts About Google

Google's original homepage had a simple design because the company founders had little experience in HTML, the markup language used for designing web pages

Google and YouTube are the two most visited websites in the world.
Google is the biggest search engine. It's also the largest mapping, email, and online video platform. It's also the top mobile operating system and web browser.
Google is ranked as one of the most valuable brands globally.
Google was first called "BackRub." This was because it checked "backlinks" to see how important a website was.
The name "Google" comes from a misspelling of "googol." A googol is the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. This name was chosen to show that the search engine could provide a huge amount of information.
The word "google" was added to dictionaries in 2006. It means "to use the Google search engine to find information on the Internet."
Google often creates April Fools' Day jokes. In 2000, they announced "Google MentalPlex." It supposedly let you search the web using your mind.
Google's services have "easter eggs." These are hidden jokes or features. For example, you can change the search engine language to Swedish Chef's "Bork bork bork."
If you search for "anagram," Google's suggestion is "Did you mean: nag a ram?" This is a clever play on words.
Google has data centers in North America, South America, Asia, and Europe.

Google facts for kids

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