10 mind-blowing facts about Google that will astonish you

From a humble garage in California to becoming one of the most powerful tech giants in the world, Google’s journey is filled with surprising twists, unexpected origins, and visionary decisions.

While most people associate Google with a search bar, the company, now part of Alphabet Inc., has reshaped how we navigate, learn, advertise, and even live.

Here are 10 incredible facts about Google that will blow your mind.

Google’s name was originally ‘BackRub’

Before “Google” became a verb, the search engine was known as BackRub, a reference to its algorithm that analysed backlinks to determine site relevance.

Later, the name was changed to “Google,” a misspelling of ‘Googol’, a mathematical term for a one followed by 100 zeros.

The name reflected the founders’ ambition to organise an unimaginable amount of information.

Professors helped fund its first servers

In 1996, Larry Page and Sergey Brin were Stanford PhD students with a big idea but very little cash. 

To acquire the necessary hardware for their early search engine, they borrowed money from professors and secured a $10,000 grant from the university’s Digital Library fund.

The first Google office was a garage

Like many Silicon Valley legends, Google started in a garage, specifically, Susan Wojcicki’s garage in Menlo Park.

Wojcicki later became YouTube’s CEO, while her sister Anne went on to found 23andMe and marry Sergey Brin. That garage wasn’t just an office; it was a launching pad for a digital revolution.

Google tried to sell itself for less than $1 million

In 1999, Brin and Page offered to sell Google to Excite for $750,000. Excite turned them down, a decision that now ranks among the most infamous missed opportunities in tech history.

However, today, Alphabet’s market value exceeds $1.7 trillion.

Jennifer Lopez’s green dress inspired Google Images

After Jennifer Lopez wore her iconic green Versace dress at the 2000 Grammy Awards, searches for the image exploded. Google had no image results at the time, which frustrated users and motivated the company to create Google Images.

The internet dropped 40% when Google went down

On August 16, 2013, Google suffered a rare five-minute global outage. During that short window, internet usage worldwide dropped by 40%.

This staggering dip revealed just how deeply the world relies on Google’s services.

Google supports eco-friendly landscaping with goats

Instead of using noisy, fuel-powered lawnmowers, Google rents goats to graze and naturally maintain its lawns.

It’s part of their ongoing effort to promote environmental sustainability in quirky, effective ways.

Is Google banned in China?

Despite its global dominance, Google remains banned in mainland China. Due to censorship and data restrictions, the Chinese government has blocked access to Google since 2010, forcing users to rely on local alternatives, such as Baidu.

Most of Google’s revenue comes from advertising

In 2014, a whopping 89% of Google’s revenue was driven by its advertising services, from AdWords to AdSense.

Even today, Google Ads remains a primary source of revenue, fueling everything from Gmail to YouTube, Android to Google Maps.

Google handles over 8.5 billion searches a day

With 99,000 searches every second, Google processes over 8.5 billion searches daily. From checking the weather to researching AI, most users turn to Google multiple times a day without even realising it.