For better or for worse,Googleis a quintessential piece of the internet as we know it today. The wider Google family of apps includes some of the most popular apps and websites in the world, such asGoogle Chromeand YouTube. However, it all pales in comparison to the search engine at the center of it all. Google is the most visited website of all time. The word Google is just how we describe looking something up online.
The word “synonymous” barely even scratches the surface, as Google might just be more preferable to any other way to suggest the act of searching the web for something. Google as a search engine has been around since 1998, and we are fast approaching its 30th anniversary. With that long of a history in mind, there’s been a lot of changes to Google over the decades, and now seems like the perfect time to take a stroll down memory lane.
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The original Google and its improvements.
Starting off all the way back in 1998, we have the original Google. This particular page is indexed from November 1998, and is the earliest archive for any version of Google on the Wayback Machine. What is particularly interesting is that this is far back enough that just going to google.com would have taken you to a landing page. To actually get to this exact version of Google, you would have had to visit google.stanford.edu instead.
Perhaps what stands out most about this original 1998 page is how much is unchanged from the Google of today. The colors of each letter of the Google logo are the same, and the “I’m feeling lucky” button is already there. While this isn’t something that stuck around with Google in particular, it is undeniably charming to see an email subscription box from 1998.
One interesting note you’ll notice about the logo is that an exclamation point is slapped on to the end of it. This version of the page also has information on how many webpages are indexed by Google search, as well as an option to select how many results your search can yield. At the time, the maximum option was just 100.
Perhaps what stands out most about this original 1998 page is how much is unchanged from the Google of today.
Moving forward to 1999, quite a few changes have taken place. To begin with, this web page is officially accessed by visiting google.com. The copyright information at the bottom of the page also reads Google Inc. rather than Stanford University. The miscellaneous buttons from the original page are gone, and only the search and “I’m feeling lucky” buttons remain. The Google logo itself has changed fonts, and is off-centered towards the left to fit in an “About Google” button and a “Jobs@Google” button. However, the largest change to the Google logo seen here is the very sad loss of the exclamation point.
Pressing into the 21st century, the 2000 version of Google is a little different from the 1999 version. The Google logo has returned to the center of the screen, and there are now extra buttons for advanced search, language and filtering options, Google’s web directory, advertising with Google, adding Google to your site, and an “everything else” button. Notably, the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button has graduated to capital letters. This version of the page notably advertises the new ability to use Google to get stock quotes. The 2001 version of Google remains largely the same, aside from rearranging the buttons and adding a link to the Google Groups forum.
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Google’s continued genesis.
In 2002, a huge change hit Google: image search. The very familiar tabs we’re used to seeing on the main page of Google finally pop up in this version, though they look very different. Rather than quite a number of search types, the tabs present are for web searches, image searches, groups, and the directory. This version of the page is otherwise very similar to the previous two versions. The 2002 Google page is also pretty much identical to the following four years, with a few notable exceptions. In 2003, the news search tab is added. In 2004, the Froogle tab joins the fray. Froogle was the original name for the shopping tab, and is part of a long tradition of Google-based puns.
However, the biggest additions to the tabs can both be found in 2006. On the 2006 Google page, you’ll now notice a video search tab, and a maps tab marking the start ofGoogle Maps. While both of these are themselves huge additions to Google, you shouldn’t let the tabs distract you from the link to Google Calendar hanging out just below the search box.
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The navigation bar, Gmail, and event logos.
In 2007, a huge shift hit the Google homepage. The tabs breakaway from resting just on top of the search bar, and move all the way to the top of the page. That is where the different tabs and links to other Google services will remain all the way up to the present. While this change itself is huge, it’s nowhere near as big as what’s been added to the menu bar: Gmail.
Aside from those changes, this is largely the same Google page you’re used to seeing. And it will remain this way, for the next few years. To have a little bit of variety, the 2008 and 2009 Google page screenshots pictured above are artist versions of the logo. The 2008 doesn’t seem to be for any particular event, and was done by Jeff Koons. The 2009 logo is for Halloween.
The 2010 and 2011 pages both have a large amount of difference from their predecessors. In another huge change to the Google logo, the 2010 version no longer has a drop shadow and has slightly brightened colors. Additionally, the search buttons themselves look much less basic than before. The 2011 page is largely the same, except for the menu bar now being black instead of plain white.
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Google+ and the modern logo.
At first glance, you might think that the 2012 version of Google looks largely the same. Yes, this particular screenshot was taken from Election Day, and therefore bears a special ballot-themed logo. But that’s not the biggest change. You might also be inclined to think that it’s the videos button in the menu bar now being replaced with YouTube. As tempting as it is to think that, that is also not the biggest change.
No, the biggest, most nefarious change to the Google homepage in this version is the link to Google+. If you weren’t really online in the early 2010s, you can’t be blamed for not really knowing about Google+, but this was supposed to be Google’s next big thing. Google+ was supposed to be Google’s answer to Facebook and Twitter, but to say it never took off is an understatement. This button will remain in the exact same spot on Google’s homepage for a long time.
The 2013 page is largely the same, aside from documents in the menu bar officially becoming Drive. In 2014, another of the most pervasive features of Google emerges. The download Google Chrome pop-up is here to stay, and features on Google to this day, should you access it from any non-Chrome browser.
After this point, the pages largely remain the same. That is, except for one huge change that comes up in 2015. After nearly twenty years, the Google logo radically changes. While the colors remain the same, the font completely changes. This is the Google logo as we know it today. This 2015 page is what Google continued to look like all the way up into 2018, which is the last page pictured here to feature theGoogle+button.
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2019-present
There’s not a lot to say about the Google pages featured from 2019 up until today. The 2024 screenshot still bears the 2024 Paris Olympics art, but other than that, nothing is really different since 2018. Looking back to the early days of Google, it’s wild to imagine nearly ten years passing with only one minor change to what the homepage looks like.
For those that browsed the internet in the late 2000s and early 2010s, it wasn’t much of a surprise to log in to a website and see it be very suddenly changed. YouTube in particular is a fantastic example of this change, with the website having been seemingly ever-changing for the longest time. Today, these kinds of changes just don’t happen as frequently. As interesting as it is to look back on how funky the Google of the past looks by today’s standard, it is equally interesting to see just how little has changed. Over time, less and less changed about Google’s homepage, until pretty much nothing changed at all.
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