Photo courtesy of Google, Inc.

Google arrived on the search engine scene when search engines were failing as fast as healthy plants in a desert. I can remember the 2nd SES Conference when Sergey Brin skate boarded across the stage for the “Meet the Search Engines” talk, back when Google was considered a “minor” engine. I still have my notes on that talk. AltaVista was the Big Man on the block, and Yahoo! was THE Directory. 

Google is every bit of a creative force as Disney but in an entirely different way.

Google creates tool after tool after tool, generally always managing to be the first. They have their little PageRank toolbar that many SEOs spend endless nights worrying over. Their Suggestion Tool is a stroke of genius, and if you’re not taking advantage of the power of this tool now and getting ready for its public release, you’re missing out on a fabulous opportunity.

Their playground where they demo new tools is always full of phenomenal ideas. Possibly their latest creation, SearchMash, is an experimental search site to test user interfaces in order to improve the overall search experience.

They’ve managed to do what earlier search engines could never do: provide relevant search results AND make money!

The people they employ are creative geniuses. Have you ever wondered how they come up with so many new ideas? Is it from sitting behind computer desks all day long?

Absolutely not. Did you know that Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Eric Schmidt often play with Legos(R) when they’re meeting about business?

Here’s a link to an article in Time magazine in February 2006 that shows a picture of them sitting around a table full of Legos(r).

Did you know that the first storage system ever used by Google was built out of Legos(R)? Hard drives at the time maxed out at 4GB, but they crammed 10 GB into this Lego(R) system. In 1999, Google took it offline and gave it to Stanford University.

Googleplex itself isn’t a typical work environment. Take this photo tour and learn why. You can even take your dog to work with you. I wonder if I could take all six of my dogs?

Google understands that in order to create, you need a creative environment. People need to be able to get away from their computers and think for a while. They need to pick up a basketball and play for a few minutes in order to solve a particularly difficult problem. Or, they need to talk a walk, swim laps, or paint.

Watch Google’s home page. It’s constantly being changed because of a holiday or special event. It will often bring a smile to your face.

With all of Google’s sophistication, their home page is a study in simplicity, which should be an example to us all. Google has always been about search. They’ve never cluttered their home page with portal information, news stories, entertainment, etc.

We go to Google to SEARCH.

Robin