Google

more than a Google user’s misgivings
over the limitations of her existing
Web-based email account: It was difficult
to manage efficiently, and she was
constantly forced to delete mail to remain
under the 4MB storage limit.
Her complaint came to the attention
of a Google engineer, who thought
that developing a solution would
make a great 20% time project. The
result was Gmail, an email service you
can use and search from anywhere,
with gigabytes of storage capacity.
The Ten Things. Google’s management
has codified 10 truisms that underlay
the way it tries to do business
and how it regards Google’s role on
the Web.
1. Focus on the user, and all else
will follow.
As Google has grown, it has used
one criterion to evaluate each potential
change: Will it benefit the end user? If
not, it doesn’t happen. Nor should any
changes erode what users have come to
expect: a straightforward interface, no
waiting time on search results, results
that haven’t been manipulated by
selling placement, and advertising that
remains relevant and unobtrusive.
2. It’s best to do one thing really,
really well.
Some search engines seem as
though their primary goal is to distract
you from what you showed up
to do in the first place. Drop by another
prominent site, and you’re
bombarded with news headlines, entertainment
headlines, a list of the
week’s new movies, links to horoscopes
and a music service, weather
and traffic reports, and more.
Google’s landing page looks as austere
as ever. Although the company is
developing other products and services,
you never get the sense that these
interfere with the original mission.
3. Fast is better than slow.
Whenever Google provides you
with search results, near the upper
right of the page you’ll see how long
it took. We’ve never seen one that
has exceeded a fraction of a second.
To ensure that things move at the
A LL A BOUT G OOGLE
maximum possible speed, Google
developed new computer configurations
and search algorithms, and
prunes the excess from pages to keep
them streamlined.
4. Democracy on the Web works.
To determine how Web pages are
ranked in terms of relevance, Google
doesn’t rely on the number of hits the
pages get, but by analyzing the number
of other sites that link to them, and
those pages’ place in the rankings.
Using this method, Web sites are, in
essence, voting for their peers.
5. You don’t need to be at your desk
to need an answer.
The need for information
transcends office
computers and
wireless-enabled notebook
PCs. Google is
committed to bringing
search results to cell
phones, PDAs, and
even cars . . . and,
when necessary, developing
new technologies
that make Web
pages viewable in gadgets
that otherwise
couldn’t display them.
6. You can make
money without doing
evil.
This time, evil comes
down to something
quite specific: advertising.
Because Google
refuses to let paid
ads create a conflict of interest that
compromises the integrity of its search
results, ads are labeled “Sponsored
Links,” and no one can buy a higher
placement to override their page rankings.
The company doesn’t permit advertising
to distract from search
results, either. Ads are text-only, kept
separate from the results, and appear
only if relevant to the search terms.
7. There’s always more information
out there.
Google may have made a breakthrough
by indexing more Web pages
than any other search engine, but this
Google’s Desktop Search
functions bury Windows
XP’s built-in search, which
won’t be improved until
the next operating system
release in 2006.
was only a start. The Internet consists
of more than just text pages written in
standard HTML (Hypertext Markup
Language) code. To expand its search
horizons and make more of the available
data accessible, Google developed
ways of including databases, graphic
images, and PDF (Portable Document
Format) files and other document
formats, such as work created with
Microsoft’s Office Suite.
8. The need for information
crosses all borders.
More than 50% of Google’s
searches are conducted by users outside
the United States. Google provides
language tools
that let users translate
foreign pages, and
while the results can be
grammatically clunky,
you can usually understand
the point. As
well, users can limit
searches to pages in
any of 35 languages
and set the interface to
display in any of 116
(so far) languages . . .
although we suspect
that the Elmer Fudd
and Klingon options
will draw a very limited
user base.
9. You can be serious
without a suit.
This applies mainly
to the corporate culture,
in which people
don’t take themselves so seriously
that they never hear innovative ideas
that might get bogged down in a
stricter hierarchy. Instead, even suggestions
that emerge from cafeteria
conversations get tested and tried as
soon as possible.
As one employee posted in his blog,
“[T]here isn’t a lot of ‘stop energy’ at
Google. My colleagues in engineering,
marketing, etc. don’t react to new
ideas with ‘You can’t do that,’ but
usually with ‘cool’ and a tip as to who
to talk to in the organization who is
likely to be of the most help.”
Reference Series / Guide To Using Google 15