Google is the most used search engine on the Web, and hundreds of thousands of Internet users turn to it everyday to find information. Many consider it to be the best search engine on the Internet, and over 40% of all searches are conducted by Google. But what is Google, and how does it work?
Google is a search engine, which is not to be confused with a directory, which is human-powered. A search engine uses something called "spiders", which crawl the Internet (hence why they are also called crawlers) looking for and archiving web data. When a user conducts a search, the engine pulls up that web data and displays it to the user. Spiders look for all kinds of things to determine the order of which pages are displayed, and many webmasters manipulate their web pages and use other techniques to achieve high rankings. This process is search engine optimization, taking methods to improve your rankings.
Always updating it's search engine algorithms, webmasters sometimes get irritated with Google when they work so hard to achieve high rankings and then go down because of Google's updates. Each Google algorithm update has a name (such as Big Daddy or Jagger), and people usually need to change their websites if they want to reclaim their Google position. Google updates very sparingly, and it is somewhat exciting when the update comes.
Google is more than just a search engine. They have many other tools, for webmasters especially. Google Labs is always cooking up new products to help people retrieve information and assist them with their daily lives (Google Maps is very helpful to many). Among the vast amount of products, tools, and software Google has is a program called AdWords, and it's companion program AdSense. AdWords allows webmasters to advertise their business, paying a predetermined amount for individual visitors. AdSense allows webmasters to make money by displaying ads on their website, and some people make thousands a month.
In the future, Google will continue to grow at a possibly exponential rate. As it employs more people, develops new products, and recruits new advertisers and publishers, it will also increase it's market share of all conducted searches. That is why it is important for webmasters to try to rank high for their respective keywords. Anybody can make money with Google, as long as you have the right website. Some people generate hundreds of dollars a month only from site(s) they buy (and cheaply, too). Simply, Google rocks.