Google started as a company on September 4, 1998, when Google Inc. was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in Menlo Park, California.

Quick Scoop

  • The idea behind Google began as a Stanford research project called “BackRub” around 1995–1996, focusing on ranking pages by links.
  • The search engine under the name “Google” was in development by 1996–1997, with the domain google.com registered in September 1997.
  • Google Inc. was officially founded on September 4, 1998, often treated as the date Google “started” as a company.

Mini timeline

  • 1995–1996: BackRub research project at Stanford.
  • 1997: Name changed to “Google” and google.com domain registered.
  • September 4, 1998: Google Inc. incorporated in a garage in Menlo Park, California.

If the question is “when did Google start?”, most sources treat September 4, 1998, as the key start date because that is when Google became an official company and began its journey as the search giant known today.

TL;DR: The Google project grew through the mid‑1990s, but Google as a company officially started on September 4, 1998.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.