Google, the internet search giant founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, has spent more than a quarter-century organizing the vast amounts of information and content found online.
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Launched in 1998, Google revolutionized search engines with its clean design and PageRank algorithm. As of 2025, Google has about 90% of the search market share but faces new challenges from AI-powered competitors and regulatory scrutiny.
Backrub—the resource-intensive web crawler—was developed as part of the PhD research of Larry Page, Google's cofounder. The tool searched for links across the internet's then 10 million pages to understand how pages were connected to each other.
As of 2025, an estimated 5.01 billion people use Google Search worldwide, with over 20% of activity conducted via voice search. “YouTube” is the most searched term, with an average monthly search volume of over 375 million.
Just as research papers carry more weight if they are cited more often and cite major papers to reach their conclusion, Google's PageRank identifies search relevance based on the number and quality of links pointing to a page.
Rather than static rankings, dynamic tools, including Twiddlers, which adjust ranking positions based on document traits and search context, and FreshnessNode, which reshuffles top results to prioritize timely informational content, constantly shift search results.
Ads in Google Search, YouTube, and other products brought in $147B for Alphabet, with ad click costs ranging from $7 to several hundred dollars. YouTube’s ad revenue alone jumped 49% year-over-year in one quarter.
With its vibrant and cutting-edge design, the so-called “Googleplex” is synonymous with Silicon Valley and surrounds employees with lush green space and unique artwork. Amenities include massage therapy, a medical clinic, and nap pods to inspire creativity.
Google Search revolutionized information retrieval in 1998, but additional web-based products, including Gmail, Maps, Docs, and YouTube reinforced the company's core ad business while allowing it to aggregate the world's information. Forming Alphabet protected this business from riskier moonshot projects.
Analysts believe that generative AI tools—not antitrust rulings—are Google's biggest threat because they draw users away from traditional search and potential ad revenue. AI partnerships, like the one between Apple and OpenAI, may further reduce Google's market share.
The US Department of Justice and numerous states accused Google of making exclusionary agreements with Android phone manufacturers to make its search engine the default on those devices, preventing competitors from gaining market share.
Since the time our ancient human relatives began using stone tools to perform tasks, humans have harnessed scientific knowledge and new technologies to advance our ability to feed ourselves, increase our health, expand the boundaries of our knowledge, and much more. From artificial intelligence and quantum computing, to optimizing the human body in pursuit of a long and healthy life, and much more—learn about these topics and more with our smart-but-digestible overviews and expert-curated resources.