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Posted by Jodie Houghton
Twenty years ago, two Stanford Ph.D. students launched a new search engine from their friend's garage with a bold mission to organise the world’s information and to make it universally accessible and useful.
If you haven't already seen it, today's doodle shows us some of the most popular searches over the years from around the world.
They've also given us a glimpse in to where it all started, via Google street view. Special mention to the "Google Worldwide Headquarters" scrawled across a whiteboard.
We've been through our ups and downs with Google over the years - but what a ride it's been. We asked some of the team what Google means to them....
Martin from the Strategy team
Google has found a way to present a significant amount of complex data in an intuitive and user-friendly format. The perfect balance between form and function.
Anna from Client Services
Before Google I'd probably have to take my children to a library so they could do their homework - now they just say "OK Google" and it's done.
Paul from the Performance team
Over the past 20 years, Google has always striven to bring the best, most relevant and most useful search results to the user. But when you think about it, it’s so much more than a search engine (Youtube, Android, Google Music, Maps, Chrome Browser, Lens, Art Project, Self Driving Cars, Assistant, Gmail, Fuchsia OS, Drive / Apps). It has a culture of constant innovation which suggests it will continue to have a huge impact for many, many years to come.
Chris from the Performance team
I would literally be lost without Google Maps!
Dan from the Performance team
Google has pretty much become the default interface for the web – whether you’re talking about device, app or website. In a world where any and all information is at your fingertips, it’s continually striving to improve user experience.
Tim from the Dev team
Android was created because Google were concerned about Microsoft's becoming the key player on mobiles. But whilst Windows Phone has largely died out, Android is now the world’s most popular operating system. It overtook Windows in March 2017, ending Microsoft’s era as the dominant OS. It's incredible to think that Google now has 8 products with over a billion users (Google Search, Android, Gmail, Chrome, Google Maps, YouTube, Google Drive and Google Play Store).
Howard from the Creative team
My kids believe that Google has the answer to everything - it’s not true until you’ve Googled it.
Anna from Engagement
Google made a huge impact on the PR industry, adding an extra dimension to the benefits of editorial media coverage for clients (boosting SEO).
Saskia from the Performance team
It's always been much more intuitive compared to other search engines. Plus, who hasn't had a nosy around the world via Google Earth?
Tamsin from the Engagement team
I Google everything! I love using the shopping feature when I’m looking for something specific. It’s a great way to find new brands.
Dave from the Dev team
People used to talk about optimising for search results. Now we optimise for Google.
Cara from the Engagement team
Google Analytics has helped PR measurement to become much more robust.
John from the Creative team
You know you’ve made it when your brand name becomes a verb!
We could honestly talk about Google all day - in fact sometimes we do! If you want to chat with one of our experts about how to stay ahead of the game, get in touch today.
