Google Turns 27, Celebrates with Its First-Ever Logo

New Delhi: Google, the search engine that turned into one of the world’s biggest tech giants, is celebrating its 27th birthday today. And to mark the milestone, the company has gone nostalgic; its doodle on the homepage features Google’s very first logo from 1998.

For anyone logging in today, the doodle is like stepping into a time machine. The chunky, colourful letters don’t quite have the polish of the current design, but they carry the weight of history. Back then, Google was just a research project by two Stanford PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Their aim was simple: to organise the web’s overwhelming information and make it accessible to everyone.

From a Garage to Billions of Users

The company’s beginnings were famously humble - a garage in Menlo Park, California, served as its first office. In 1998, Google had barely started attracting attention. Fast forward to today, and it is a global brand powering billions of searches every day. Beyond search, Google now runs Gmail, Maps, YouTube, Android, cloud services, and cutting-edge AI tools.

Why September 27?

Interestingly, September 27 is not actually Google’s official birthday. The company filed its incorporation papers on September 4, 1998. But over the years, September 27 became the “birthday” because Google once used the date for a celebratory doodle, and the tradition stuck. Much like people who celebrate a “party birthday” separate from the real one, Google decided the fun mattered more than the paperwork.

The First Logo Returns

Today’s doodle revives the original logo designed in 1998 using basic graphic tools. It’s a reminder that even the world’s most powerful companies often start with modest, imperfect beginnings. That first logo represented a vision — not the polished tech empire we see today, but a work in progress filled with ambition.

Looking Ahead

At 27, Google is both celebrating its past and racing into the future. With its growing focus on artificial intelligence, smart devices, and cloud computing, the company shows no sign of slowing down.

For now, though, the old logo is a reminder of where it all started: a garage, a big dream, and a colourful name that would go on to change the world.

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