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CBS 60 Minutes “Googles” Google – The Story
Behind Search
Engine
April 14, 2005
By Bill Schnarr
For some, the
beginning came with a whimper, and not with a big bang.
That’s the kind
of thinking that got the little search engine that could, known
as “Google”, a play on words referring to the mathematical
concept of Googol (the number 1 followed by 100 zeros), exactly
where it is today.
And where they
are is on top of the world.
According to a
recent CBS 60 Minutes interview, Google as a company is
now the top search engine company in the world, and is worth
more than both “Chevrolet and Ford combined”. Quite an
accomplishment, considering the company began as a bit of a
science project for two college students, Sergey Brin and Larry
Page.
The Birth of Google
Google started
in the basement of Stanford University where the two men met and
came up with a way to better channel the tidal forces of the
Internet into useable data. They developed a series of
Algorithms that were designed to filter the information in a web
page search and rank it in order of relevance.
After they had
developed their test web page and named it Google, they
installed into the University computers there and asked some
friends to use it and see how it worked for them. By word of
mouth alone, (Google only advertises through it’s own site and
clearly marks its advertising so people will not be confused by
it) they soon ran out of computer pace and were forced to
relocate their project.
That
“relocation” happened when the two men moved out of Stanford
University and into their world-wide headquarters (an old
garage) so they could build and maintain their own computers.
When the “Dot
Com Crash” happened in the nineties, Google not only survived,
but they prospered. According to 60 minutes, that’s when they
went out and hired some of the brightest minds in computer
development of the day at a time when “Dot Coms” were falling
apart and people were desperate for work.
Do No Evil
The Google
Company motto of “Do No Evil” is present in every facet of
Google business today. By this, they mean that they will always
strive to be upfront and honest with their users about
everything thing that they are doing. No trick marketing, no
flashy gimmicks. Just truth in advertising.
Google ads are
always placed in the same spot so you can find them. They are
never mixed into searches, because that would play into the
mindset that Google could be “bought off” in order to achieve
favorable rankings.
Instead, when a
Google search is typed in, all of the relevant web sites are
listed according to the Google ranking system. Beside them,
listed to the right, are a ranked set of advertising according
to the relevance of the search.
For example,
should one type in “Flower Delivery” in Google, they would
receive a large list of web pages and articles regarding
Flower delivery. To the right, in a box that is clearly defined
as web advertising, Google would list the top 10 best places to
get Flower Delivery according to company specs and another
internal advertising ranking system.
This type of
advertising, one person at a time, has proven to be highly
successful for Google, and a highly profitable venture that
literally is only limited by the size of the internet and by
companies willing to invest in their program.
So far it’s
worked brilliantly; Brin and Page are worth over $6 Billion
each.
The Future of Google
Is there a
number bigger than Google?
 Who knows. What
is known is that everyday the Google company (located at “The
Googleplex” in silicon Valley) gets bigger. They hire about 25
new people every day, and they receive thousands of resumes a
week that come from all over the globe. They are definitely
growing.
According to
some industry analysts however, this could be the problem with
the company. If there is an Achilles’ heel in the massive
Internet company, it is the fear that they may be growing too
big for their britches. Expanding and growing at the rate they
are could be like stacking a house of cards: one false step and
everything could come crashing down around them.
In an effort to
attract only the biggest and brightest, Google hiring staff uses
aptitude tests to attract possible employees. If you can crack
their puzzles, you could be one of the lucky few who make it in.
These tests have even been reprinted in technical and computer
magazines in order to attract people. According to 60 Minutes,
one recent interviewee was called back for fourteen interviews
before being hired. The position: Public Relations.
Google has
entered a cold war of sorts with Microsoft, one of its chief
rivals. Since Microsoft competes with everyone on the Internet,
it was only a matter of time until these two juggernauts started
pawing the ground and blowing smoke at each other.
While Microsoft
admits that Google has completely won the battle for search
engine supremacy, they drew a line in the sand when Google
announced plans to develop a similar program for ranking files
on a computer desktop – something that the flagship of Microsoft
software, their Windows programs, already accomplish to no small
degree of success.
There also
rumblings that the two could be going to war over software
development for
cell phones and PDA hand held devices, a place
in which Google has had their eye for some time and a market
where Microsoft has been curiously weak.
For the folks
at Google, it’s all very simple. Information is the new economy
of the Internet, and they intend to stay the premier purveyor of
information in the world. Some of their plans include developing
the software that will instantly translate the language of any
web page into any other language at the user’s preference (such
as work with
Babelfish and other translation software designs).
Only time will
tell for sure if a number larger than a “Google” exists
somewhere.
For more
information, visit
www.google.com.
About The
Author
Bill Schnarr is a single parent and freelance writer who
works from his home in Calgary, Alberta. As well as having dozens of
online and print publishing credits, you can also look for Bill
in "Chicken Soup for the Single Parents Soul".
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