Copywriting 911

For Internet users Google is so studied from cover to cover, or better, from archive to cache, as Britney’s romantic relationships for her fans. But, as your school teacher probably told you, any kind of knowledge can’t be proved without a test. So, check yourself using the following list of little known facts about Google.

1.Without a spelling mistake, today we would have browsed Googol, as it is the very term Larry Page and Sergey Brin originally chose for their brainchild. The word ‘googol’ refers to 1 100 (1 followed by 100 zeros) and was meant to symbolize a large-scale search engine, however, it was incorrectly identified, and this way Google became Google. As for the math, the term ‘googol’ was introduced by American scientist Edward Kasner who also coined ‘googolplex’ (1 followed by a googol of zeros). Of course, Page and Brin couldn’t miss the opportunity to use this word while choosing the name for the Google Headquarters in Mountain View.

2.The patent for the PageRank algorithm doesn’t belong to Google Inc, as commonly thought. Actually, that is Stanford University which has the right to Page’s know-how making Google stand out from other search engines (patent no. 6,285,999). By the way, both of the Google Guys were university dropouts, but this fact didn’t stop them from building a billion dollar company.

3.The cradle of Google – Stanford Computer Science Center, where the most important research was conducted, – was considerably supported by Bill Gates who’d invested $6 million in its development.

4.Google.com is famous for its simple and clean interface, nevertheless, like with Google’s name, that wasn’t made on purpose. As a matter of fact, initially Page and Brin had to get some basic interface ready quick, and they didn’t have spare money to hire a professional designer.

5.In its early childhood Google confused users with its sparse homepage. As it had less content, most people preferred to wait until the page was fully loaded. To prevent their clients from wasting time and getting frustrated, the Googlers placed the copyright message at the homepage bottom.

6.Surveys showed that practically nobody uses the I’m Feeling Lucky feature, however – and that is one of the human psychological paradoxes – most users want this button to just remain there in case of dire need.

7.The Did you mean… option, representing an advanced spell checker, became a new stage on Google’s evolution, doubling its traffic.

8.Aspiring for globalization, Google can boast the largest translators’ network in the world.

9.We are used to hearing “Google it”, yet the Googlers themselves aren’t allowed to say these words. The reason is that, if used too often, the term may be applied to other search engines which is likely to impair the Google brand.

10.The last fact is probably well-known, but I’d like to mention it in order to explain one of the main secrets of Google’s success. The typical schedule of Google’s employees leaves them 1/5 of the overall working time to develop their own projects. This progressive approach enables the creation of such useful services as Orkut and Google News.