Google turns 27! See the special 1998 logo Doodle and dive into 27 years of innovation. Discover how PageRank, Android, and AI changed the world.
On September 27, 2025, Google, the world’s most dominant search engine and a true titan of technology, marked its 27th birthday.
This anniversary is more than just a date; it is a moment to reflect on a journey that began in a small garage and profoundly reshaped how billions of people access information, communicate, and navigate the world.
The celebration was headlined by a special Google Doodle that indulged in deep nostalgia, reviving the company’s original 1998 logo design.
This retro look served as a playful nod to the company’s humble beginnings and a thank you to the global community that helped turn a Stanford research project into a trillion-dollar digital empire.
From “BackRub” to “Googol”: The Origin Story
The story of Google starts at Stanford University in the mid-1990s with PhD students Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
- The Original Concept: Their research project was a novel search engine that ranked web pages not just by how many times a keyword appeared, but by the quality and number of links pointing to it. This revolutionary system was called PageRank.
- The Quirky Name: The search engine was initially dubbed “BackRub,” a name that referenced the analysis of “backlinks.”6 Realizing they needed a more scalable and impactful brand, the founders brainstormed. They settled on Google, a clever misspelling of the mathematical term “googol“—the number one followed by 100 zeros (10100). This name was chosen to reflect their mission to organize the vast, near-limitless quantity of information on the web.
- The Humble Birthplace: After receiving initial seed funding, Google was officially incorporated on September 4, 1998, and moved its operations into a garage in Menlo Park, California, owned by Susan Wojcicki (who would later become the CEO of YouTube).
Why September 27th? The Birthday Mystery
While Google was legally incorporated on September 4, 1998, the company has celebrated its birthday on September 27 since the mid-2000s. The exact reason for the shift is tied to a symbolic milestone: the date often coincided with the announcement of a record number of pages indexed by the search engine, a public demonstration of its rapid growth and dominance.
This date became the widely accepted day for annual, user-facing celebration.
Key Milestones: 27 Years of Product Revolution
Google didn’t stop at search. Over 27 years, it systematically built a digital ecosystem that touched nearly every aspect of digital life, often acquiring promising new technologies.
| Year | Product/Acquisition | Impact on the Digital World |
| 2000 | Google AdWords | Launched the self-serve online advertising platform, defining the model for monetizing the internet. |
| 2001 | Google Images | Launched after massive public demand for images of Jennifer Lopez’s iconic Versace dress. |
| 2004 | Gmail | Launched with an unheard-of 1 GB of free storage, instantly disrupting the webmail market. |
| 2005 | Google Maps / Android (Acquired) | Maps revolutionized navigation; the Android operating system acquisition set the stage for mobile dominance. |
| 2006 | YouTube (Acquired) | Purchased for $1.65 billion, becoming the world’s leading video platform. |
| 2008 | Google Chrome | Launched the web browser that would quickly become the most popular globally. |
| 2015 | Alphabet Inc. (Restructuring) | Google became the main subsidiary of the new parent company, allowing the core business to focus while funding “Other Bets” like Waymo (self-driving) and DeepMind (AI). |
| 2023 | Search Generative Experience (SGE) / Bard | Intensified the focus on Generative AI, integrating AI-powered summaries directly into search results and launching a direct competitor to ChatGPT. |
The Future at 27: The Age of AI
Today, under the leadership of CEO Sundar Pichai, Google (and its parent company, Alphabet) is valued at over $3 trillion, according to recent reports. As it moves toward its 30th birthday, the company’s focus is laser-sharp on Artificial Intelligence.
The ongoing integration of AI—from its Gemini models to its AI-powered features in Search, Android, and Cloud—signals a new era of transformation. Just as PageRank redefined search in 1998, Google is now banking on AI to redefine how humans interact with the world’s information, ensuring it remains at the forefront of the digital revolution for years to come.
This video provides an overview of the dramatic changes in the Google search engine, which remains the core of the company’s influence Google’s AI Overview will devastate small and medium-sized businesses.
