Google, founded in 1998, became the world’s largest search engine and one of its most valuable companies.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin established Google while they were graduate students at Stanford University. Their early search system ranked pages partly by analyzing links between websites, a method that helped distinguish useful results from simple keyword matching.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, operates the search business and many related products. Advertising connected to search remains a major source of revenue, while YouTube, Google Cloud, Android, and subscription services broaden the corporate group’s reach.
A common mix-up is treating Google and Alphabet as identical names. Google is the best-known operating company and brand; Alphabet became the publicly traded parent in 2015. Market-capitalization lists generally identify Alphabet as the listed company, even though many people refer to it informally as Google.