In the early stages of its development, the search engine we now know as Google was initially named “Backrub.” This name reflected one of the key features of the search algorithm that its founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, were working on.

The name “Backrub” was derived from the concept of analyzing the “back links” of web pages. Back links are links from other websites pointing to a particular page, which was an innovative approach to determining the relevance and authority of web pages in search results. Instead of relying solely on keyword matching, Backrub’s algorithm looked at the interconnectedness of web pages through these back links, considering them as votes of confidence in a page’s quality and relevance.

This approach was revolutionary at the time because it provided more accurate and meaningful search results compared to other search engines of that era. It laid the foundation for what would later become Google’s PageRank algorithm, which played a crucial role in the search engine’s success and eventual dominance.

As Larry Page and Sergey Brin continued to refine their search engine and expand its capabilities, they decided to rebrand it with a new name. In 1997, they officially changed the name from “Backrub” to “Google,” a play on the mathematical term “googol,” representing a large number (1 followed by 100 zeros). This name change marked a significant step in the evolution of the company, leading to the iconic Google we know today.