Today is Google’s 9th birthday (or anniversary), the date when the search engine was introduced to the worldwide web. Of course, the company was incorporated a few weeks earlier, but today is the date that the search engine went live.

Search Was Different Before Google

I remember life before Google quite well. When it arrived, Yahoo! was my favorite search engine, with AltaVista, Microsoft, and a couple of other smaller ones catching my attention. It didn’t take long for me to make the switch to Google, especially when I could find a lot more targeted information through its search engine than with the others.

Of course, Google has morphed well beyond being just a search engine. A business juggernaut, the company has the midas touch, but with a twist: everything they buy seems to add value to the company.

Serge, Larry, and a Host of Capable Employees

Without founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google wouldn’t exist. Naturally, putting together the best team of people possible has worked to its advantage. That team has been instrumental in helping Google acquire dozen of companies expanding Google’s presence well beyond search.

10 Notable Google Acquisitions

For the fun of it, let’s take a look at 10 important Google acquisitions completed over the years:

Blogger — when blogging was still relatively a young phenomenon, Google’s 2003 purchase of Pyra Labs gave the company a stronghold in the blogosphere.

Applied Semantics — AdSense seems as if it has been around forever, but Google’s purchase of Applied Semantics, the developer of AdSense, was accomplished in April 2003. CPC hasn’t been the same since!

Picasa — In 2004, Google acquired Picasa, the photo editing and organizing software program.

Keyhole — Today’s Google Earth came from the company’s acquisition of Keyhole in 2004. With this acquisition and subsequent development, Google brought satellite spying to the masses.

Urchin — Google Analytics, the widely-used web analytics software program, was acquired by Google in 2005. Only recently has the program become widely available as demand far exceeded Google’s ability to maintain the program.

Upstartle — I had to look this one up, as I had forgotten that Writely — the online word processing program — came to Google with their acquisition of Upstartle. Today, the renamed Google Docs includes word processing, spreadsheet, and a recently released presentation program.

YouTube — The 2006 purchase of YouTube has been one of the largest acquisitions to date for Google. Less than two years after getting its start, Google paid $1.65 billion for the video sharing company. Hey, Google — you wanna buy my blog?!

Feedburner — Just this past June Google snapped up Feedburner, the news feed management provider.

Postini — Security and compliance software company Postini is in the fold and works side by side with Google Apps.

DoubleClick — Last, but certainly not least, the DoubleClick acquisition puts Google in the banner, video, and display ad business. Certainly, Google is not satisfied with serving up text ads only.

What Else Is In Store?

For a company that is so young, Google has billions of dollars at its disposal and is always on the prowl to expand their business, chiefly through acquisition. The company has its detractors who insist that its “Do No Evil” slogan no longer applies. Privacy issues, corporate dominance, greed, even arrogance are some of the concerns being raised about Google today.

Regardless of where Google may be headed, having a solid response to growing opposition is essential to its long term growth. When your corporate image is being defined by consumers, the ability to grow and expand your business is hampered, something Bill Gates has discovered at the helm of Microsoft.

Anyway, Happy 9th Birthday to Google!