Google is 20 years old. Google celebrates its birthday every year on September 27th, even though it was incorporated on September 4th. Founded 20 years ago, the company is marking the occasion with a Google Doodle around the world.
A new Doodle celebrates popular Google search terms — and sidesteps the company’s complicated conquest of the internet.
It features letter-shaped balloons attached to a gift box. Tapping plays a YouTube video that animates popular searches from around the globe over the past two decades. Terms include Y2K, Pluto losing its status as a planet, the Royal Wedding, 2012 on the Mayan calendar, and avocado toast. It ends on an international thank you from Google.
In keeping with the “popular searches in history” theme, the company has also launched 20years.withgoogle.com, a website dedicated to notable facts from the last 20 years of search trends. Examples: Heath Ledger was the most-searched actor in 2008 (the year of his death), Neymar has been the most-searched soccer player since 2017, and The Real World was the most-searched reality TV show from 1999 to 2001.
Meanwhile, on its official blog, the company has delved into the history of Google Doodles, highlighting 20 notable examples — including the first animated Doodle, which appeared for Halloween in 2000, and famous playable Pac-Man Doodle, which commemorated the game’s 30th anniversary in 2010.
Earlier this week, the company prepared for the next 20 years of Search by announcing a slew of new features. Focussing on incorporating AI and other visual optimizations, Google detailed subtopics with dynamic results, while Search will display Activity cards to help users keep track of previous queries.
Search will begin showing more AMP stories as Google Images gains Google Lens on mobile. The notoriously stark homepage on mobile is adding Google Discover — previously the Google Feed — in the coming weeks. This list of news and other articles is aimed at surfacing content related to a user’s interests.