Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in 1998 with the mission to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
No matter who you were, you could access the same information as doctors and professors, opening up the floodgates for education and entrepreneurship.
As a proud Google partner, we are excited to celebrate Google’s 25th birthday this month, although on 4th September, Google officially celebrates on 27th September.
In this blog, we dive into some of Google’s essential products and how they’ve helped businesses throughout the years and are continuing to help now. Whether you’re a developer, creator or small business owner, Google products such as Google Business Profile, Google Cloud and Google Play can save you some precious hours and capital.
The first to enable businesses to advertise online through paid search (PPC)
A couple of years after Google’s initial launch in 1998, Adwords was launched in 2000. Adwords allowed users to purchase search terms they wanted to be noticed.
Google is known for being the first to create a space for businesses to advertise online, reshaping how companies promote their products and services. To this day, online search is one of the most important ways for businesses to reach their customers, falling just behind word of mouth.
According to Google’s Economic Impact in the UK Report, Google Search and Ads enable business owners to export over £20 billion of goods and services worldwide.
If you’re looking to drive online growth for your business, explore how our paid advertising services can help you reach new customers, drive sales and increase your revenue.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is essential to growing your business, so much so that organic leads generated through SEO have a 14.6% close rate. SEO boosts your visibility on search rankings and enhances your brand's credibility.
There are three types of SEO:
Technical SEO ensures your website is optimised so that a search engine, for example, Google, can understand your content.
The focus of local SEO is to ensure that your business performs well with your potential local customers when pitted against other local competitors.
Content creation and optimisation are critical for any SEO strategy, and when implemented with technical SEO, it can help to encourage prospect leads through the buying journey.
If you're looking to organically target your ideal customers and grow and maintain your search rankings, then have a look at our award-winning SEO services delivered to you by our SEO experts.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Google Analytics has been a part of the Google family since 2005, with the latest generation, Google Analytics 4 (GA4), released in 2020.
The previous version, Universal Analytics, stopped processing data on the 1st of July, 2023. Universal Analytics was introduced initially in 2012 and offered users features such as tracking codes for websites and resources to measure user behaviour.
The GA4 update focuses on a streamlined user experience and is centred on machine learning with features such as predictive metrics, ease of defining conversions and flexible reporting.
Unlike the previous Google Analytics, which relied on strict data collection, GA4 samples the collected data and predicts patterns and trends. This user-centric approach is beneficial for marketing as this means that the user journey can be the focus.
Whether you are new or experienced with Google Analytics, our experts can support your Google Analytics 4 migration and setup by allowing you to track your data accurately and make informed decisions based on your customised analytics setup.
How Google continue to impact businesses
Staying true to their mission first set out by Larry and Sergey, the vast range of Google’s other platforms, such as Google Business Profile, Google Cloud, YouTube and Google Play, has made it incredibly easy for businesses to reach customers from around the globe, no matter the scale of the company.
Google Business Profile:
Google Business Profile is an entirely free tool. Once set up, businesses can appear in Google Search, Google Shopping and Google Maps. With around 32 million business users across the globe, it is arguably one of Google’s most crucial tools to help businesses seek out new customers.
Of those who use the service, 65%, or two-thirds, have said that they feel it has helped them attract new customers. 79% of UK businesses have found that Google Business Profiles and Google Reviews have been invaluable in assisting them to create connections with their customers.
Google Reviews allows customers to express their opinion of a business however they like, whether more detailed or simply leaving a number of stars out of five. With word of mouth being a trusted source, this encourages new customers to use businesses if they are rated well by other previous customers.
Having a Google Business Profile, businesses can also expect search engine optimisation (SEO) benefits, especially locally. For example, if a prospective customer searches for a nearby business using Google Maps, such as a restaurant, the company is more likely to be a part of the search rankings.
Google Cloud:
Although Google has always been in the cloud, it wasn’t until 2008 that they released Google Cloud. As one of the top enterprise companies worldwide, Google Cloud helps other companies create jobs, operate more efficiently and grow more rapidly.
Businesses can stay linked with their customers using the cloud for their desktop, web and mobile applications. Customers will still have access to the program regardless of location or time. Google Cloud also allows businesses to act fast and make decisions based on real-time data.
Another added feature of Google Cloud is the level of security that businesses can expect to find. With a built-in Google Cloud Security Command Center, a managed vulnerability assessment can be provided, which helps to ensure that the most serious issues are identified and dealt with. Problems could include misconfigured firewalls or publicly exposed assets.
Google Cloud can also increase efficiency and teamwork with its range of collaboration tools, such as Google Workspace and Google Drive. Not only are these tools suitable for an internal team to access, review and make live changes together, but it is also beneficial when working with clients. They can collaborate on work without the time-consuming process of transferring files around.
The creative industry and YouTube:
Google decided to purchase YouTube in 2006, allowing them to focus on helping the creative industry reach a wider audience. In the UK alone, YouTube has supported over 40,000 jobs equivalent to full-time employment.
Previously, distribution was the most challenging part of film and production, a far cry from our current circumstances, where the top 20 independent creators in the UK have over 10 million followers each.
As well as the individual creators, through YouTube, businesses can also share content that entertains, educates and informs their audience intending to grow their audience, who then become customers.
YouTube has been particularly successful for businesses in the music and media industries as creators are granted creative freedom with their content, and long-standing players can acquire new talent and revenue sources.
What differs for YouTube is that it offers more than just written reviews. Viewers can seek out specific content that helps them discover more about a product, service or company. Content can include product demonstrations or detailed product reviews from content creators.
Developers and Google Play:
It’s estimated that Android has saved developers over 1 million days, equaling £300 million saved in developmental costs.
Original Equipment Manufacturers have extensively utilised Android since it is a free-to-use, open-source model. Because of this, there are over 1000 companies that build devices for Android around the world, saving a vast amount of time and expenses for developers who don’t have to make their applications for a new operating system continually.
To make it easier to introduce apps or games to global users simultaneously, Google Play allows developers to have a centralised platform for their apps.
They also help developers to be more flexible with the quality of their apps with tools for staged rollouts, testing and early alerts that permit developers to improve their user experiences.
By giving developers the tools to test, monitor and ensure their apps’ quality, Google helps foster long-lasting user connections between developers’ apps and the consumer, opening the door for developers to experiment with how to engage users better.
The next 25 years of Google
Google has been investing in AI since the 2000s, starting with spelling corrections, suggestions, and recommendations, tools that everyone is familiar with. Google has also used AI to improve the quality of ads.
In 2014, Google purchased a British AI research company called DeepMind. Sundar Pichai became Google’s CEO the year after and vowed to pivot Google into an AI-first company.
Since then, progress has included technological innovations, which have led to product modernisation. This is evident in improving Google’s current products, such as ‘Help Me Write’ in Gmail and the new Search Generative Experience (SGE).
A new AI product launched in 2023 named Bard was released to help people work with generative AI. Bard is an important new tool for Google, integrated into other products such as Gmail and Docs.
While progress is being made with AI, the future could see more of a shift towards AI solutions. For example, new AI technologies could mean new assistive help for over one million people with disabilities while they work.
Summary
In the past 25 years, Google has revolutionised how business is conducted, starting with its introduction of online advertising.
Google continues to strive to help businesses succeed with its vast range of tools, including GA4, Google Business Profiles, Google Cloud, YouTube and Google Play. These tools have helped dozens of companies increase their chances of success, whether small or large, no matter the industry.
As we look to the next 25 years and beyond, it is a sure thing that AI will play a massive role in what’s to come. Google has already started making waves with this technology by improving its long-standing products and recently introducing Bard. The next step involves using AI to help those with disabilities who may need extra assistance in the workplace.
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