What is Google?

Google is known worldwide as one of the largest search engines on the wide web. Yet Google is secretly much more than just a search engine (although we often stop to think about this). It is a large American company that provides a huge range of services. Nowadays, we cannot imagine life without the convenience of the giant search engine of the same name. 

But the company is actually relatively new to the world. It was only founded in 1998 and was not very well known at the time. Two young students came up with this great idea and did not even get much support at first. Now, more than twenty years later, we can say that these two students were right. In a relatively short time, they have made Google the most visited website worldwide. An influential website that is visited by young and old and has become very important for almost every online marketing strategy.

Secretly, there is also a lot we do not know about this company and its search engine. What exactly is Google? How does it actually work? What, for example, determines the ranking factor of a website? How does Google read other websites? And how can two students have developed a medium that is now so influential, more than twenty years later? What makes Google so special? 

Definition of Google 

Google is a large American company with one of the largest search engines in the world by the same name. We know Google mainly as a search engine. The definition of a search engine is clear to almost everyone. In a search engine, you enter a query (usually one or more words) and are immediately shown a number of websites that meet these criteria. Receiving the right search results seems so obvious, but secretly there is a very complex story behind it.

In recent years, Google has worked very hard to improve its own algorithm. This ensures that only the most qualitative websites end up higher in the search results. In this way, Google is able to maintain its own good name and attract enough people. The algorithm changes every year. 

Throughout the years, Google has grown enormously. It is certainly not just a search engine anymore. It offers many other free services. Services that are very popular. All over the world. Think, for example, of Google Maps (one of the most favourite services used by many people in cars, on bicycles and on foot), Google+, Gmail, YouTube and Google Chrome. 

Search engine optimisation and Google 

Search engine optimisation plays an essential role in the world of online marketing. After all, this is what it is all about as a website developer. You want to rank high in the search results of the world's most famous search engine in order to reach more people, generate more traffic and ultimately convert it into more effective leads. Of course, there are more search engines than just Google. But Google is by far the most popular. That is why SEO or search engine optimisation is almost synonymous with Google.