What is Google?
Google is a multinational technology company that specializes in online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, and software. Its broad product portfolio and market dominance have placed it among the world's most prominent brands, with more than 70% of worldwide online search requests handled by Google. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and operates as a subsidiary of parent conglomerate Alphabet Inc.
Google began as a research project of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two Stanford University students who invented a system that allows computers to sort information on the Internet according to relevance to the searcher's query. They incorporated Google in 1998 and began receiving outside funding, which enabled them to expand the company's infrastructure and develop new services. They drew the name "Google" from a misspelling of the original planned name, Googol (a mathematical term for one followed by 100 zeroes).
In addition to the core search engine, Google offers a wide range of other products and services. These include the popular email client Gmail, the video-sharing service YouTube, and the Google Maps navigation and local business discovery tool. The company also produces the Android mobile operating system and a variety of hardware devices, such as Pixel smartphones and Nest home automation products.
The company generates the majority of its revenue from the sale of online advertising, which is targeted based on users' search and browsing history. Google also offers a suite of tools for website owners, including the analytics service Google Analytics and the ad management platform Google AdWords. In addition, Google provides a program called Google AdSense that allows website owners to host Google advertisements and earn money when visitors click on them.
Founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the company now employs more than 85,000 people around the world. Its main facilities are located in the Googleplex complex in Mountain View, California. Outside of the United States, Google has offices in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. In addition, it has a number of data centers spread across the globe. The company is also active in the field of artificial intelligence, and its products rely on this technology for many of their features. The company's voice assistant, called Google Assistant, answers voice queries, plays music, finds information from apps (such as calendars and weather forecasts), and controls third-party smart home appliances. It is available on all Google-compatible devices, including phones, tablets, and laptops. It can be activated by saying "OK Google" or "Hey Google". A version for the Pixel smartphone was released in late 2018. It is powered by machine learning and uses natural language processing to understand user requests.