Top 14 Google Facts. 1 to 14

One of the biggest leap in search usage came about when they introduced their much improved spell checker giving birth to the “Did you mean…” feature. This instantly doubled their traffic, but they had some interesting discussions on how best to place that information, as most people simply tuned that out. But they discovered the placement at the bottom of the results was the most effective area.

The infamous “I feel lucky” is nearly never used. However, in trials it was found that removing it would somehow reduce the Google experience. Users wanted it kept. It was a comfort button.

Google makes changes small-and-often. They will sometimes trial a particular feature with a set of users from a given network subnet such as Excite@Home users often get to see new features. They aren’t told of this, just presented with the new UI and observed how they use it.

The name ‘Google’ was an accident. A spelling mistake made by the original founders who thought they were going for ‘Googol’.

Google’s first ever Tweet in February 2009 read: “I’m 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101100 01110101 01100011 01101011 01111001 00001010.” For anyone not fluent in binary, it reads: “I’m feeling lucky.”

Google rents out goats from a company called California Grazing to help cut down the amount of weeds and brush at Google HQ. The operation of 200 goats (plus herder and a border collie) is kind to the environment, and as Google puts it: “A lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers.

Brin and Page have said that no Googler should ever be more than 100 feet from a micro-kitchen with snacks and food. The first chef that Google employed earned $26 million from his stock options.

The first Google doodle was a Burning Man symbol. Page Brin went to the Burning Man festival in 1998 and added the doodle to let users know they were away from the office that weekend.

If you go to www.google.co.uk/settings/ads you can see all the interest categories that Google have put you in based on your search history and browsing behaviours.

Company corporate philosophies include “you can make money without doing evil,” “you can be serious without a suit,” and “work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun.”

Google is a dog-friendly company and it actually has “company dogs,” (as they call them) like Yoshka (described as a “free-range Leonberger”). According to Google’s “Dog Policy”, one indiscretion too many on the Google carpets, or aggressive behavior, means Lassie will have to stay at home in the future. Strong bladdered and friendly canines are more than welcome across the campus. Unfortunately, cats are not quite as welcome because: “Google’s affection for our canine friends is an integral facet of our corporate culture. We like cats, but we’re a dog company, so as a general rule we feel cats visiting our offices would be fairly stressed out.”

Google’s famously sparse homepage is considered a classic design in the online world. But the Google logo wasn’t actually centered on the page until March 31, 2001. If you happen to remember, the homepage had a bias to the left-hand side, and even earlier (back in 1998) Google sported a Yahoo-style exclamation mark.

There are many wondrous sights to be seen at the Googleplex, but one of the most arresting is surely the gigantic T-Rex skeleton — nicknamed “Stan” after a “real” dinosaur found nearby. Joining Stan in the unique campus decorations is a scale replica of the SpaceShipOne, enormous Android-themed models, pink flamingos, a large LEGO man, Google-colored phone boxes and grown-up size ball pits. The place for sure is not boring at all.