20 exciting facts you didn't know about Google

Yes! Google has dominated the search engine market, maintaining an 83 percent market share as of July 2022. That's huge! Google is the most used search engine in the world.

Everyone is accustomed to saying, 'Google it and search, 'no matter what age group.' This is the popularity of Google. In this post, I will tell you 20 exciting facts you didn't know about Google.

Let's start!

Twenty exciting facts you didn't know about Google!

1. Where did the name Google come from?

Well, to your surprise, the name Google came from the mathematical term Googol. It means 1 with a hundred zeroes. This term signified that the company would develop a search engine capable of handling large amounts of data.

2. Goats at Google headquarters

Google has kept goats in their lawns instead of keeping lawnmowers. Such mowers contribute to air pollution. Hence, Google has taken this interesting eco-friendly initiative.

3. Not just a search engine

Google is not just a search engine but much more. It has acquired multiple companies over some time. Some of them are YouTube, Waze, Android, and more.

4. The First Google doodle was a burning stick man

Google is known for its doodles on special occasions. It's an interesting approach taken by this widely used search engine. The first design to be uploaded as a doodle was by a burning man on August 30, 1998. Interestingly, the doodle was a tribute to the burning man festival in Nevada then.

5. Founders — Sergey Brin and Larry Page

The founders of Google are Sergey Brin and Larry Page. They have accumulated billions since Google was founded. Most interestingly, they have their private runways at NASA, making them the only two individuals worldwide. Isn't that crazy?

6. Google is an Oxford English Dictionary word

The word Google is now part of the Oxford English Dictionary as a verb, meaning 'an action'. People usually include it daily. It has become a major part of the everyday lexicon. Besides, you must have heard people say Google it, implying search it. Right?

7. Google announced Gmail; it was taken as an April Fool's Day joke.

Google is known to play practical jokes on April fool's day. Due to this reason, nobody believed when Google launched Gmail on April 1, 2004. At that time, Gmail offered people 1GB of free storage, whereas Hotmail, a popular email service, offered only 2MB of storage. This also added to the belief of people that Google was joking.

8. Google's first office was a rented garage

At present, Google is known to have incredible offices all across the globe. Everyone desires to be a part of this huge multinational company. Also, it provides immense benefits and perks to its employees. But do you know its first office was in a garage? Yes! In 1998, Google was located in a small garage on Santa Margarita Ave. in Menlo Park, California.

9. Pet-friendly office

Google is known as a pet-friendly office worldwide. Employees can bring their pets into the workspace as they have various dedicated spaces.

10. Google was down for 5 minutes straight!

On August 16, 2013, Google recorded a downtime of five minutes. This period resulted in an overall decrease in global internet usage by 40%. This number proves how popular Google has been amongst people since the early days.

11. The first tweet from Google: I'm feeling lucky

The very first tweet from Google looked more like gibberish. It was: 'I'm 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101100 01110101 01100011 01101011 01111001 00001010'. The translation of this binary code meant: I'm feeling lucky!

12. Google Search technology: PageRank

PageRank means how much a website is relevant and essential. If Google considers your content highly valuable, it will improve your ranking accordingly.

The name is a tribute to the co-founder of Google, Larry Page.

13. Google homepage is available in 80 languages

As Google is the most famous search engine worldwide; hence, it has included 80 languages on the homepage for people's comfort. Here is the list of the latest languages added to the Google homepage:

• Nepali
• Punjabi
• Hausa
• Igbo
• Zulu
• Māori
• Mongolian
• Yoruba
• Somali

14. Google gifted free Wi-Fi to a town

In 2006, Google offered free Wi-Fi service to Mountain View, California. This launch prompted people to use web services and Google as their search engine. Clever and intelligent, right?

15. Google image search launch was massive

The Google image search feature was launched in 2001. The company planned to launch 250 million images on day one for users to surf and use. But do you know the reason for this launch? In February 2000, Jennifer Lopez wore a green Versace dress. The demand for this picture rose so much that Google decided to launch its own Google image search feature for the users to find this picture. Go JLo!

16. Starbucks was an office for Google, New York

In the year 2000, Google expanded its branch in New York City. On the contrary, New York currently has a staggering 2,900,000 ft.² office where thousands of NYooglers contribute their services to this massive search engine! To your surprise, the office was situated at Starbucks on 86th Street in New York.

17. Google was about to be sold off

In 1999, both founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page decided to sell their companies after being successful. They planned to sell Google to Excite for $1 million. However, the ownewasn't’t ready to buy Google at that time. After that, Google saw tremendous success and an impressive growth rate! Thanks to Excite; otherwise, we probablwouldn't’t b' ‘Googli'g’ at present!

18. Reason behinGoogle's’s the simple homepage

You must have noticed no clutter on the homepage of Google. There are two reasons behind this:

• Founders wanted to keep the homepage simple, straightforward, and easy to understand for the users.
• The founders of Google did not know how to use HTML code then.

19. Provides gourmet food

Google is known to provide gourmet food and snacks at its offices. Interestingly in 1999, the first Google snack was a chewy candy known as Swedish fish. This is another exciting thing for food lovers.

20. Logo was brought to the center of the homepage much later

At present, you can see the logo of Google right in the middle of the homepage. However, this was not how it looked until 2001. In March 2001, the logo of Google on the right side of the page was shifted to the center.

Wrapping Up

Google is touching new heights with each passing day. As you are already familiar with the popularity of Google, it still makes impressive improvements every other day. The company works hard to improve the user experience and provides the best features being a search engine.

These were some of the most interesting facts about Google that you were probably not aware of. If there are some more interesting facts that you would like to add to the list, feel free to comment below.

I hope you enjoyed this article!

Adios!