New Delhi, Sept. 27 — In the mid-1990s, as the internet was just beginning to stretch its wings, two graduate students at Stanford University laid the foundation for what would become one of the most transformative companies of the digital age. Today, Google turns 27. Its rise from a dorm-room project to a global empire is well documented. But the story of its name — born out of a typo — remains one of Silicon Valley’s most serendipitous accidents.
From BackRub to a Bigger Idea
Larry Page and Sergey Brin began their collaboration in 1996 with a project called BackRub, a search engine that analyzed “backlinks” — the number and quality of pages linking to a website. The tool was powerful, but the name was awkward.
By 1997, the pair sought something grander, a name that captured their mission: to organize the vast and seemingly infinite information on the web.
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The Birth of “Google”
During a brainstorming session, a fellow student suggested the mathematical term “Googol”, which refers to the number 1 followed by 100 zeros — a symbol of enormous scale. It seemed fitting for a project that aimed to map the boundless universe of the internet.
But when registering the domain, the student accidentally typed “Google.com” instead of “Googol.com.” On September 15, 1997, the name was officially registered. What could have been dismissed as a slip of the keyboard instead became one of the most recognizable words in the world.
When a Noun Became a Verb
In less than a decade, “Google” stopped being just a company. It became a verb. To “Google” something was to look it up online. The word entered the Oxford English Dictionary and everyday conversation alike, an achievement no marketing team could have orchestrated.
A Timeline of Transformation
Over the years, Google evolved far beyond search:
1998: Official founding of Google Inc.
2001: Eric Schmidt appointed CEO, bringing managerial discipline to a fast-growing company.
2004: Gmail launched, redefining email.
2006: Acquisition of YouTube.
2008: The Android operating system arrived, putting Google in billions of hands.
2015: Alphabet Inc. was created as Google’s parent company.
2020s: Heavy investments in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and quantum research.
More Than Technology: A Cultural Force
Google’s influence stretches beyond technology. It has reshaped education, commerce, healthcare, and even politics. The company’s algorithms determine what billions of people see first when they look for information.
As technology historian David A. Vise once noted, “Google is not just a search engine, it is the world’s memory.”
A Typo That Changed the World
Now, 27 years later, Google’s name is etched into the lexicon of modern life — a symbol of both human curiosity and the accidental brilliance of innovation. What began with a typo has become one of the most powerful brands on earth.
Sometimes, revolutions don’t begin with careful planning. Sometimes, they start with a simple mistake on a keyboard.
