Full Description

Google Inc., incorporated in September 1998, maintains an index of Websites and other online content, and makes this information freely available through its search engine to anyone with an Internet connection. The Company’s automated search technology helps people obtain nearly instant access to relevant information from its online index. The Company generates revenue primarily by delivering online advertising. Businesses use its AdWords program to promote their products and services with targeted advertising. In addition, the thousands of third-party Websites that comprise the Google Network use its AdSense program to deliver relevant ads that generate revenue and enhance the user experience. In March 2008, the Company acquired Click Holding Corp. (DoubleClick), a company that offers online ad serving and management services to advertisers, ad agencies and Web site publishers. In August 2008, the Company sold the search marketing business of Performics, a division of DoubleClick. In September 2008, Google Inc. bought Korea-based blogging software developer Tatter and Company. In September 2009, the Company acquired ReCAPTCHA Inc., a spin-off of Carnegie Mellon University's Computer Science Department.

Google.com

Google Web Search enables people find what they are looking for on the Web. The Google.com search experience also includes advanced search functionality, which enables users to construct complex queries; Web page translation, which supports 41 languages and automatically translates between any two of these languages, with a total of 1,640 language translation pairs; integrated tools, such as a spell checker, a calculator, a dictionary and currency and measurement converters; search by number, which lets users do quick searches by entering shipping tracking numbers, vehicle identification numbers, product codes, telephone area codes, patent numbers, airplane registration numbers and electronic equipment identification government numbers; cached links, which provides snapshots of Web pages taken when the pages were indexed, letting users view Web pages that are no longer available; movie, music and weather information, which enables users to find movie reviews and show times, information about artists, songs and albums and weather conditions and forecasts, and news, finance, maps, image, video, book, blogs and groups information. It also displays results from other Google products, including Google News, Google Finance, Google Maps, Google Image Search, Google Video, Google Book Search, Google Blog Search and Google Groups.

Google Image Search is the Company’s searchable index of images found across the Web. It offers advanced features, such as searching by image size, format and coloration, and restricting searches to specific Websites or domains. Google Book Search lets users search the full text of a library-sized collection of books to discover books of interest and to learn where to buy or borrow them. Through this program, publishers can host their content and show their publications at the top of its search results. Google Scholar provides a way to do a search for relevant scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles. Content in Google Scholar is taken from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.

Google Finance provides a user interface to navigate complex financial information in an intuitive manner, including linking together different data sources, such as correlating stock price movements to news events. Google News gathers information from thousands of news sources worldwide and presents news stories in a searchable format within minutes of their publication on the Web. Google Video lets users upload, find, view and share video content worldwide.

Google Blog Search enables users to search the blogging universe and find out users’ opinions on a variety of subjects. The Google Blog Search index includes every blog that publishes a site feed. iGoogle includes Personalized Search, which gives its users search results based on what they have searched for in the past. Users can also view and manage their history of past searches and the results they have clicked on, and create bookmarks with labels and notes.

Google Product Search helps users find and compare products from online stores across the Web and directs users to where they can buy these products. Users can search for product information that is submitted electronically by sellers or automatically identified by Google software. Google Custom Search allows communities of users familiar with particular topics to build customized search engines. Google Base lets content owners submit content that they want to share on Google Websites. Google Webmaster Tools provides information to Webmasters to help them enhance their understanding of how their Websites interact with the Google search engine.

Applications

Google Docs allows the Company’s users to create, view and edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations from anywhere using a browser. Google Calendar is a free online shareable calendar service that allows its users to keep track of the important events, appointments and special occasions in their lives and share this information with anyone they choose. In addition, Websites and groups with an online presence can use Google Calendar to create public calendars, which are automatically indexed and searchable on Google. Gmail is Google’s free Webmail service that comes with built-in Google search technology to allow searching of emails and over seven gigabytes of storage, allowing users to keep their important messages, files and pictures.

Google Groups is a free service that helps groups of people connect to information and people that interest them. Users can discuss topics by posting messages to a group, where other people can then read and respond. Google Reader is a free service that lets users subscribe to feeds and receive updates from multiple Websites in a single interface. Google Reader also allows users to share content with others, and function with many types of media and reading-styles. orkut enables users to search and connect to other users through networks of trusted friends. Users can create a profile, personal mailboxes, post photos and join or manage online communities. Blogger is a Web-based publishing tool that lets people publish to the Web instantly using Weblogs (blogs). Blogs are Web pages usually made up of short, informal and frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically.

Google Sites allows users to create, update and publish content online without technical expertise, with control over who can see and update the site. Google Sites supports a variety of information, such as videos, calendars, presentations, spreadsheets, discussions and texts. YouTube is an online community that lets users worldwide upload, share, watch, rate and comment on videos. YouTube is also a video platform providing general purpose video resources to the Web community. YouTube videos are embedded in blogs, social networks and Web applications, and YouTube programming interfaces are utilized by many registered developers to create third-party products and services. In addition, YouTube offers a range of video and interactive formats for advertisers to reach their intended audience.

Client

Google Toolbar is a free application that adds a Google search box to Web browsers (Internet Explorer and Firefox) and improves people’s Web experience through features, such as a pop-up blocker that blocks pop-up advertising, an autofill feature that completes Web forms with information saved on a user’s computer and customizable buttons that let users search their favorite Websites and stay updated on their favorite feeds. Google Chrome is an open-source browser that combines a minimal design with technologies to enable web navigation. Google Pack is a free collection of safe, useful software programs from Google and other companies that improve the user experience online and on the desktop. It includes programs that help users browse the Web faster, remove spyware and viruses.

Picasa is a free service that allows users to view, manage and share their photos. Picasa enables users to import, organize and edit their photos, and upload them to Picasa Web Albums where the photos can be shared with others on the Internet. Google Desktop lets people perform a full-text search on the contents of their own computer, including e-mail, files, instant messenger chats and Web browser history. Users can view Web pages they have visited even when they are not online. Google Desktop also includes a customizable Sidebar that includes modules for weather, stock tickers and news.

Google GEO

Google Earth lets users see and explore the world and beyond from their desktop. Users can fly virtually to a specific location and learn about that area through detailed satellite and aerial images, three-dimensional (3D) topography, street maps and millions of data points describing the location of businesses, schools, parks and other points of interest around the globe. Google Earth includes Sky, an astronomical imagery library with images of over 100 million stars and 200 million galaxies, and Ocean, with a detailed bathymetric map of the earth’s ocean floors. Google Maps helps people navigate map information. Users can look up addresses, search for businesses, and get point-to-point driving directions, all plotted on an interactive street map or on satellite imagery. Google Maps includes 360-degree, street-level imagery in regions around the world, and Google Transit, which provides up-to-date information on local transit options in many cities. Google Sketchup is a free tool that enables users to model buildings in 3D, and can be used as a tool for populating Google Earth with architectural content. The Pro version of this tool is sold to professional designers and includes additional features.

Google Mobile and Android

Google Mobile lets people search and view both the mobile Web, consisting of pages created specifically for wireless devices, and the entire Google index. Users can also access online information using Google SMS by typing a query to the Google shortcode and checking their e-mail using Gmail Mobile. Google Mobile is available through many wireless and mobile phone services worldwide. Google Maps for Mobile is a free Java client application that lets users view maps and satellite imagery, find local businesses and get driving directions on mobile devices. Google Maps for Mobile offers many of the same functions as Google Maps, including draggable maps combined with satellite imagery. In addition, the My Location feature allows users to view their approximate location on the map.

With Blogger for mobile devices, users can take pictures with their camera phones and then post their pictures and text comments to their blog using multimedia messaging service (MMS) or e-mail. Several of the Company’s services, such as Gmail, News and Personalized Home are also available as mobile applications. GOOG-411 is a free speech-enabled application allowing users to call 1-800-GOOG-411 to search for businesses by name or category. Android is an open-source and free mobile software platform, which allows developers to create applications for mobile devices and for handset manufacturers to install. Search by Voice lets users do a Google Web search just by saying what they are looking for. Search results are formatted to fit phone screens. Search by Voice is available for the iPhone and Android phones.

Google Checkout

Google Checkout is a service for the Company’s users, advertisers and participating merchants that is intended to make online shopping faster, convenient and secure by providing a single login for buying online and helping users find places to shop when they search. For merchants, Google Checkout is integrated with AdWords.

Google Labs

Google Labs is Google’s test bed for its engineers and adventurous Google users. On Google Labs, the Company posts product prototypes and solicit feedback on how the technology could be used or improved. Google Labs examples include Picasa for Mac, a software that allows Mac users to organize, edit, create, and share photos; In Quotes, a feature that allows users to find quotes from stories linked to Google News, and Google Audio Indexing, a new technology that allow users to find spoken words inside videos and jump to the right portion of the video where these words are spoken.

Google AdWords

Google AdWords is an auction-based advertising program that lets advertisers deliver relevant ads targeted to search queries or Web content across Google sites and through the Web sites of its Google Network, which is the network of online and offline third parties that use its advertising programs to deliver relevant ads with their search results and content. AdWords is accessible to advertisers in 41 different interface languages. Advertisers in the AdWords program create text-based or display ads, bid on the keywords that will trigger the display of their ads and set daily spending budgets. AdWords features an automated online signup process that lets advertisers implement ad campaigns on Google properties and the Web sites of its Google Network members. Ads are ranked for display in AdWords based on a combination of the maximum cost-per-click pricing set by the advertiser, and click-through rates and other factors used to determine the relevance of the ads.

The AdWords program offers advertisers return on investment, branding, access to the Google search and content network, and campaign control, among others. For large advertisers, as well as third parties, Google’s free AdWords application programming interface (API) service lets developers engineer computer programs that interact directly with the AdWords system. The AdWords Commercial Developer Program also enables its third-party developer ecosystem to continue designing and delivering business applications based on the AdWords platform and distribution channel. AdWords is available on a self-service basis with email and real-time chat support.

Google AdSense

Google AdSense program enables Websites that are part of the Google Network to deliver AdWords ads that are relevant to the search results or content on their pages. It also allows offline media companies, such as newspaper and radio stations, to deliver print ads and audio ads to the content they provide. The Google AdSense program includes Google AdSense for Search for Internet companies that want to target search audiences; Google AdSense for Content, which lets Websites generate revenue from advertising by serving relevant AdWords ads targeted to Web content, and Google AdSense for Domains and Feeds, which allows owners of undeveloped domains that receive traffic from users typing generic terms into browsers or search to generate revenue from relevant advertising.

The Google AdSense program also includes Google Television Ads, which is a product that allows advertisers to use their AdWords account to create television campaigns. Advertisers can use its online advertising platform to place and monitor their television ads. Google AdSense for Audio and Audio Ads is an early-stage product for radio broadcasters that automatically schedules and places advertising into radio programs. Google Audio Ads makes radio advertising easier for small and large businesses by providing an online interface for creating and launching radio advertising campaigns.

Display Advertising

Display advertising is Internet advertising that includes static or animated images, as well as interactive audio or video media, such as the banner ads seen on the tops or sides of many Web sites. It also offers advertising solutions on YouTube in a range of video, static or animated images, and interactive formats.

Google Enterprise

Google provides its search technology for use within enterprises through the Google Search Appliance and Google Mini. These search appliances are a software and hardware solution that companies can implement to extend Google’s search performance to their internal or external information. Google Apps provides hosted communication and collaboration tools for organizations, such as businesses, schools and groups. Google Apps includes communication features, such as Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Video, Google Sites and Google Talk, and collaboration features, such as Google Docs. It is available on an organization’s own domain. Google Apps is available in Standard and Premier Editions, with the Premier Edition providing security and compliance features allowing administrators to implement rules for how messages are handled, as well as search for and recover deleted mail across their domain.

The Google Mini is targeted at small and medium-sized businesses who want to let employees and customers search designated documents, intranets and Websites. The Google Search Appliance is similar to the Google Mini except that it can handle more documents and offers more advanced features. The Google Search Appliance is available in three models: the GB-1001, for mid-sized companies; the GB-5005, for dedicated, high-priority search services, such as customer-facing Websites and company-wide intranet applications, and the GB-8008, for centralized deployments supporting global business units.

For companies, universities and government agencies, the Company also offers the Google Toolbar for Enterprise and Google Desktop for Enterprise. Google Toolbar gives employees a search box in the browser and the ability to create custom search buttons. Google Desktop for Enterprise indexes the contents of a user’s hard drive for easy search and retrieval of documents, e-mail, instant messaging (IM) chats and other items. Google Earth’s Enterprise offerings let business users view, modify and export their data in a geographic context. Google Earth Pro, a downloadable application lets users overlay company-specific data and information in Google Earth. Google Earth Enterprise lets users integrate and host geographic data or satellite imagery with Google Earth content.

The Company competes with Microsoft Corporation and Yahoo! Inc.