Google grows up - Highlights of our second year
Dear Google Friends,
Though still in our infancy, Google's second year has been one of great
progress. Looking back at the highlights of the past 12 months, we can
proudly say we've moved beyond crawling the web to standing on our own
two feet as a useful search service:
- Our index was the first to break the billion-page barrier.
- Yahoo! chose us as their search provider.
- We won numerous awards, including 2 Webbys, PC Magazine's "Best
Internet Innovation" and WIRED Readers "Most Intelligent Agent".
- Premium Advertising and AdWords launched, giving us a way to pay the
rent on our Googleplex headquarters.
- The number of searches we conduct grew beyond 50,000,000 a day.
With 2001 just ahead, we look forward to taking bold new steps that
will carry Google to new corners of the world and of the Web. Read on
to learn what's ahead and join us as we set out to explore the future
of search.
Google gains new language skills - Now Google in Greek
As Google grows, we're expanding our vocabulary to include a number of
new tongues. You can now search using Google in Czech, Estonian, Greek,
Latvian, Hebrew, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Hungarian and Icelandic.
That brings the total number of languages Google supports to 25, including Russian (available in BETA).
To use Google to find results in your preferred language, click on the
"advanced search" link on the home page. Or make your choice the de-
fault for future searches by using our Preferences page. You can also
use this page to set the language in which Google's tips, help pages
and messages will be displayed.
Try a one-time search in any Google language:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search
Set your language preferences for future searches:
http://www.google.com/preferences
Google aces a test and gets top marks in NPD (again)
In a recent independent analysis conducted by eTesting Labs (formerly
ZD Labs) Google outranked all the other search engines tested with the
highest overall weighted score (719 points out of a possible 900) in
sports, business, travel, finance and shopping. Google performed
strongly in the simple multiword queries group, the simple one-word
queries group, the complex multiword queries group and the home page
target test. Good thing we brought extra number 2 pencils and completely filled the circle next to each selected answer.
To view the full report, visit http://cgi.zdnet.com/slink?66085.
Google also placed first overall for the fourth quarter in a row in the
NPD Online Research study. The study, which gathers data from 19,357
Internet users, measured consumer opinions and loyalty among 18 of the
most popular search engines and portals, including Alta Vista, Ask
Jeeves, AOL.com, Excite and iWon.
Google users rated Google first in the following categories:
No. 1 in Comparison vs. Other Sites: 92% of Google users surveyed rated
it either much or somewhat better than other sites.
No. 1 for Relevant and Accurate Search Results.
No. 1 for Meeting the Needs of Users.
No. 1 for Ease-of-Use and Navigation.
No. 1 for Site Reliability.
No. 1 for Speed in Loading.
No. 1 for Up-to-Date Information.
No. 1 for Good Value for the Time Spent.
Get more detail on our report card at:
http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/pressrelease41.html
Google takes on a big job - Searching BIGLOBE for
NEC
It's one thing to search the web, but the entire BIGLOBE? NEC thought
Google was up to the task and chose Google to provide web and site
search to their portal site and related online properties. BIGLOBE is
one of Japan's largest Internet access providers and the first in that
country to incorporate Google's search services into its site. NEC
joins more than 130 other licensing clients in 30 countries who use
Google search services.
In addition to accessing Google's 1.3 billion page index (the Web's
largest), BIGLOBE visitors will be able to efficiently navigate
information contained specifically on the BIGLOBE site using Google's
site search technology and to search for information specific to Japan
using Google's Japanese language index, which contains more than 38
million pages of Japan-specific information.
Read more about our new partnership here:
http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/pressrelease43.html
Google leaves home and arrives everywhere
As you can see, Google is leaving the homepage and getting into every-
thing these days. If you want to take Google in your travels across
the web, you can download our Google Toolbar and tuck it in your
browser.
--Find the Google Toolbar at http://toolbar.google.com
Or you can take Google out and about using your WAP enabled cellular
phone or PDA with modem.
--Learn more at: http://www.google.com/intl/en_extra/wap.html
In many countries, including Japan, India, Italy and Portugal, you'll find
Google integrated into your local access portal. We plan
to announce more ways to Google in 2001, as we continue
our search for ubiquity.
In the meantime, we'd like to wish you and yours a very happy holiday
season and a wonderful new year. May you enjoy the good fortune we feel
very lucky to have shared over the last twelve months. All the Googlers
join in sending you our best.
Keep on Googlin'
The Google Team
