Everyone’s favorite search engine and benevolent overlord turned 15 years old today. Sort of.
Then-Standford-Ph.D-students Larry Page and Sergey Brin had been working on what would become Google as early as January 1996. They registered the domain name on Sept. 15, 1997, and incorporated the company on Sept. 4, 1998. It “was established” on Sept. 7, 1998 according to Search Engine Watch. And almost all of those dates have been celebrated as the company’s birthday at one point or another.

Fifteen years ago, the internet took perhaps it’s biggest leap forward since the hyperlink. That first advancement created the web, and Google helped make sense of it all, making searches a far more precise and intuitive process.

In their further pursuits to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” the company has revolutionized e-mail, bought YouTube- and yes, maybe sold out its users privacy while generating massive profits for itself with AdWords.
The search engine giant has featured a playful doodle by depicting the popular Mexican birthday game pinata(a container made of papier-mache or cloth filled with candies or small toys).

The letters of Google logo are depicted as guests of the birthday party except the 4th letter 'g'.  The 4th letter 'g' of the logo is blindfolded and it hits the swinging pinata with a stick. Users are given 10 chances to hit the swinging pinata with the stick by pressing the spacebar on their computer keyboards to win candies and earn points. A cake is also displayed in the doodle with two candles '1' and '5' on it.

Google has also announced that it had updated its search engine algorithm with the aim to deliver better search results to its users.