Google was created on September 4, 1998, by two Stanford University students named Larry Page and Sergey Brin. What started as a college project in a dorm room became the world’s most popular search engine that billions of people use every day.

The Simple Answer: September 4, 1998

Google was officially founded on September 4, 1998, in Menlo Park, California, by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. This date marks when Google became a real company. But the story actually started a few years earlier when the two founders were still students.

How It All Started: The BackRub Project

Google’s story began in 1995 when Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two Ph.D. students at Stanford University, started working on a research project called “BackRub.” They wanted to make searching the internet easier and better.

Back in 1995, the internet was growing fast but finding good information was hard. Most search engines just counted how many times words appeared on a page. Larry and Sergey had a better idea.

Why They Called It Google?

Initially known as ‘Backrub,’ the search engine underwent structural and conceptual refinements before emerging as the Google we know today.

The term they chose was “Google”, a skewed spelling of ‘Googol,’ a mathematical term that describes the digit ‘1’ followed by 100 zeros. They picked this name because they wanted to organize all the information on the internet. A googol is a huge number, just like the amount of information online.

The Big Idea: PageRank

Larry and Sergey created something called PageRank. This was their secret way of ranking websites. Instead of just counting words, PageRank looked at how many other websites linked to a page. If lots of good websites linked to something, it was probably important.

This idea was simple but powerful. It made Google much better at finding useful information than other search engines.

From Dorm Room to Garage

At first, Larry and Sergey worked on their project in their dorm rooms at Stanford. They used university computers and worked late into the night. Their project got bigger and bigger.

On September 4, 1998, Page and Brin officially founded Google Inc. in a garage in Menlo Park, California. Like many famous tech companies, Google started in a garage. They rented space from Susan Wojcicki, who later became the CEO of YouTube.

Early Days and Quick Growth

Google grew incredibly fast. By 1999, the search engine was processing a staggering 500,000 searches daily necessitating a move to a proper business headquarters in Palo Alto, California.

People loved Google because it was simple and worked well. The homepage was clean and white with just a search box. Other search engines had lots of ads and links, but Google kept things simple.

Getting Money to Grow

In the beginning, Larry and Sergey needed money to buy better computers and hire more people. They got funding from investors who believed in their idea.

On August 19, 2004, Google LLC went public with an initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The IPO raised $1.67 billion and valued the company at $23 billion. This gave Google lots of money to create new products and grow even bigger.

Expanding Beyond Search: New Products and Services

After becoming successful with search, Google started making other products:

• Gmail (2004): Free email with lots of storage space
• Google Maps (2005): Online maps you could search and get directions
• YouTube (2006): Google bought the video sharing website
• Google Chrome (2008): Their own web browser
• Android (2008): Operating system for phones

Each new product made Google more popular and useful.

Leading the Mobile Revolution

Google has been a game-changer in the mobile industry with the introduction of its Android operating system. When smartphones became popular, Google was ready. Android became the most used mobile operating system in the world.

Google also made sure their search worked great on phones. This was important because more people started using the internet on mobile devices.

Becoming Alphabet Inc.

In 2015, Google made a big change. They created a new company called Alphabet to be the parent company of Google. This let Google focus on search and advertising while other Alphabet companies worked on different projects like self driving cars.

Google Today: 27 Years Old

This September 4th marks 25 years from the official creation date of Google, making Google 27 years old in 2025. The company now has over 150,000 workers around the world.

Google handles billions of searches every day. It became part of Alphabet Inc. in 2015 and handles over 70% of online searches worldwide. Most people use Google when they want to find something online.

Impact on Education and Learning

Google has had an immense impact on the educational sector. Beyond being a search tool for learners and educators, Google introduced G Suite for Education (now Google Workspace for Education), which includes apps like Classroom, Meet, and Google Drive.

Students and teachers around the world use Google tools to learn and teach. Google Scholar helps people find research papers and academic information.

Why Google Succeed?

Google succeeded because they focused on making search better, not just making money quickly. They wanted to help people find information fast and easily.

The founders also hired smart people and let them work on creative projects. This led to many new ideas and products that people loved.

The Future of Google

Google keeps working on new technology like artificial intelligence and machine learning. They want to make search even better and help people in new ways.

Today, when people want to find something online, they often say “Google it.” This shows how much Google changed the way we get information.

Key Timeline of Google Creation

1995: Larry Page and Sergey Brin start BackRub project at Stanford 1997: They rename the project to Google
September 4, 1998: Google officially becomes a company 1999: Google processes 500,000 searches per day 2000: Launch AdWords advertising 2004: Google goes public and launches Gmail 2006: Buys YouTube 2008: Launches Chrome browser and Android 2015: Becomes part of Alphabet Inc.

Final Thoughts

Google was created on September 4, 1998, but the idea started years earlier in a Stanford dorm room. Two students wanted to make finding information easier, and they ended up changing how the world uses the internet.

From a simple search engine to a company worth over a trillion dollars, Google shows what can happen when you have a good idea and work hard to make it real. Today, Google touches almost every part of our digital lives, all because two students wanted to organize the world’s information.