Google Corporate, their philosophy and ten things that they have found to be true.
Never Settle for the best
"The perfect search engine," says Google co-founder Larry Page, "would understand exactly what you mean and give back exactly what you want." Given the state of search technology today, that's a far-reaching vision requiring research, development and innovation to realize. Google is committed to blazing that trail. Though acknowledged as the world's leading search technology company, Google's goal is to provide a much higher level of service to all those who seek information, whether they're at a desk in Boston, driving through Bonn, or strolling in Bangkok.
To that end, Google has persistently pursued innovation and pushed the limits of existing technology to provide a fast, accurate and easy-to-use search service that can be accessed from anywhere. To fully understand Google, it's helpful to understand all the ways in which the company has helped to redefine how individuals, businesses and technologist view the Internet.
1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.
From
its inception, Google has focused on providing the best user experience
possible. While many companies claim to put their customers first, few
are able to resist the temptation to make small sacrifices to increase
shareholder value. Google has steadfastly refused to make any change
that does not offer a benefit to the users who come to the site:
- The interface is clear and simple.
- Pages load instantly.
- Placement in search results is never sold to anyone.
- Advertising on the site must offer relevant content
and not be a distraction.
By
always placing the interests of the user first, Google has built the
most loyal audience on the web. And that growth has come not through TV
ad campaigns, but through word of mouth from one satisfied user to
another.
2. It's best to
do one thing really, really well.
Google does search. With one of the world's largest research groups focused exclusively
on solving search problems, we know what we do well, and how we could do it better. Through continued iteration
on difficult problems, we've been able to solve complex issues and provide continuous improvements to a
service already considered the best on the web at making finding information a fast and seamless experience for
millions of users. Our dedication to improving search has also allowed us to apply what we've learned to
new products, including Gmail, Google Desktop, and Google Maps. As we continue to build new products* while making
search better, our hope is to bring the power of search to previously unexplored areas, and to help users access
and use even more of the ever-expanding information in their lives.
3. Fast is better
than slow.
Google
believes in instant gratification. You want answers and you want them
right now. Who are we to argue? Google may be the only company in the
world whose stated goal is to have users leave its website as quickly
as possible. By fanatically obsessing on shaving every excess bit and
byte from our pages and increasing the efficiency of our serving
environment, Google has broken its own speed records time and again.
Others assumed large servers were the fastest way to handle massive
amounts of data. Google found networked PCs to be faster. Where others
accepted apparent speed limits imposed by search algorithms, Google
wrote new algorithms that proved there were no limits. And Google
continues to work on making it all go even faster.
4. Democracy on
the web works.
Google
works because it relies on the millions of individuals posting links on
websites to help determine which other sites offer content of value.
Google assesses the importance of every web page using a variety of
techniques, including its patented PageRank™ algorithm which analyzes
which sites have been "voted" the best sources of information by other
pages across the web. This technique actually improves as the web gets
bigger, as each new site is another point of information and another
vote to be counted.
5. You don't need
to be at your desk to need an answer.
The world is increasingly mobile and unwilling to be constrained to a
fixed location. Whether it's through their PDAs, their wireless phones
or even their automobiles, people want information to come to them.
Google's innovations in this area include Google Number Search, which
reduces the number of keypad strokes required to find data from a
web-enabled cellular phone and an on-the-fly translation system that
converts pages written in HTML to a format that can be read by phone
browsers. This system opens up billions of pages for viewing from
devices that would otherwise not be able to display them, including
Palm PDAs and Japanese i-mode, J-Sky, and EZWeb devices. Wherever
search is likely to help users obtain the information they seek, Google
is pioneering new technologies and offering new solutions.
6. You can make
money without doing evil.
Google is a business. The revenue the
company generates is derived from offering its search
technology to companies and from the sale of advertising displayed
on Google and on other sites across the web. However, you may
have never seen an ad on Google. That's because Google does
not allow ads to be displayed on our results pages unless they're
relevant to the results page on which they're shown. So, only
certain searches produce sponsored links above or to the right
of the results. Google firmly believes that ads can provide
useful information if, and only if, they are relevant to what
you wish to find.
Google has also proven that advertising
can be effective without being flashy. Google does not accept
pop-up advertising, which interferes with your ability to see
the content you've requested. We've found that text ads (AdWords)
that are relevant to the person reading them draw much higher
clickthrough rates than ads appearing randomly. Google's maximization
group works with advertisers to improve clickthrough rates
over the life of a campaign, because high clickthrough rates
are an indication that ads are relevant to a user's interests.
Any advertiser, no matter how small or how large, can take
advantage of this highly targeted medium, whether through our
self-service advertising program that puts ads online within
minutes, or with the assistance of a Google advertising representative.
Advertising on Google is always clearly
identified as a "Sponsored Link." It is a core value
for Google that there be no compromising of the integrity of
our results. We never manipulate rankings to put our partners
higher in our search results. No one can buy better PageRank.
Our users trust Google's objectivity and no short-term gain
could ever justify breaching that trust.
Thousands of advertisers use our Google
AdWords program to promote their products; we believe AdWords
is the largest program of its kind. In addition, thousands
of web site managers take advantage of our Google
AdSense program to deliver ads relevant to the content
on their sites, improving their ability to generate revenue
and enhancing the experience for their users.
7. There's always
more information out there.
Once Google had indexed more of the HTML
pages on the Internet than any other search service, our engineers turned
their attention to information that was not as readily accessible. Sometimes
it was just a matter of integrating new databases, such as adding a
phone number and address lookup and a business directory. Other efforts
required a bit more creativity, like adding the ability to search
billions of images and a way to view pages that were originally
created as PDF files. The popularity of PDF results led us to expand
the list of file types searched to include documents produced in a dozen
formats such as Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. For wireless users,
Google developed a unique way to translate HTML formatted files into
a format that could be read by mobile devices. The list is not likely
to end there as Google's researchers continue looking into ways to bring
all the world's information to users seeking answers.
8. The need for
information crosses all borders.
Though Google is headquartered in California,
our mission is to facilitate access to information for the entire world,
so we have offices around the globe. To that end we maintain dozens
of Internet domains and serve more than half of our results to users
living outside the United States. Google search results can be restricted
to pages written in more than 35 languages according to a user's preference.
We also offer a translation feature to make content available to users
regardless of their native tongue and for those who prefer not to search
in English, Google's interface can be customized into more than 100 languages.
To accelerate the addition of new languages, Google offers volunteers
the opportunity to help in the translation through an automated tool
available on the Google.com website. This process has greatly improved
both the variety and quality of service we're able to offer users in
even the most far flung corners of the globe.
9. You can be
serious without a suit.
Google's founders have often stated that
the company is not serious about anything but search. They built a company
around the idea that work should be challenging and the challenge should
be fun. To that end, Google's culture is unlike any in corporate America,
and it's not because of the ubiquitous lava lamps and large rubber balls,
or the fact that the company's chef used to cook for the Grateful Dead.
In the same way Google puts users first when it comes to our online
service, Google Inc. puts employees first when it comes to daily life
in our Googleplex headquarters. There is an emphasis on team achievements
and pride in individual accomplishments that contribute to the company's
overall success. Ideas are traded, tested and put into practice with
an alacrity that can be dizzying. Meetings that would take hours elsewhere
are frequently little more than a conversation in line for lunch and
few walls separate those who write the code from those who write the
checks. This highly communicative environment fosters a productivity
and camaraderie fueled by the realization that millions of people rely
on Google results. Give the proper tools to a group of people who like
to make a difference, and they will.
10. Great just
isn't good enough.
Always deliver more than expected. Google does not
accept being the best as an endpoint, but a starting point. Through
innovation and iteration, Google takes something that works well and
improves upon it in unexpected ways. Search works well for properly
spelled words, but what about typos? One engineer saw a need and created
a spell checker that seems to read a user's mind. It takes too long
to search from a WAP phone? Our wireless group developed Google Number
Search to reduce entries from three keystrokes per letter to one.
With a user base in the millions, Google is able to identify points
of friction quickly and smooth them out. Google's point of distinction
however, is anticipating needs not yet articulated by our global audience,
then meeting them with products and services that set new standards.
This constant dissatisfaction with the way things are is ultimately
the driving force behind the world's best search engine.
Three months ago, I met the two startup founders of Zenter, Wayne Crosby and Robby Walker, and blogged about how they wanted their online version of PowerPoint to get bought by Google. I listen to a lot of young entrepreneurs who desperately want to get bought by big companies like Google (GOOG), Microsoft or eBay, but Crosby and Walker actually made it a reality. On Tuesday, Zenter, an interactive presentation software, was acquired by Google for an undisclosed sum as mentioned in my colleague Erick Schonfeld's blog. 
