Google was originally called Backrub.
The Genesis of Backrub
Before it became the global technology giant we know today, Google's pioneering search engine had a different name: Backrub. This innovative project was conceived and developed by Stanford University Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Working from their dorm rooms, Page and Brin embarked on a mission to build a more effective search engine. Their breakthrough involved a revolutionary approach: instead of simply counting how many times a term appeared on a page, their system analyzed the relationships between websites. It used links to determine the importance of individual pages on the World Wide Web. The more links pointing to a page, especially from important pages, the higher its ranking. This unique link analysis technique was the core of Backrub.
The Evolution to Google
The name "Backrub" reflected the system's reliance on "backlinks" (links pointing back to a page) for ranking pages. However, soon after its inception, the name was changed. In 1997, Backrub was renamed Google. The new name was a play on the word "googol," a mathematical term for the number 1 followed by 100 zeros (10^100), signifying the founders' mission to organize the immense amount of information available on the web.
Here's a quick overview of the naming journey:
| Original Name | Current Name | Year Renamed (Approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Backrub | 1997 |
This transformation marked a significant step towards the company's future dominance in the search engine market. The underlying technology, rooted in Page and Brin's original work, continued to evolve, leading to the sophisticated search algorithms that power Google today.
For more details on Google's journey, you can visit their official "Our Story" page.
