"Have you ever wondered how Google works? Sure, it has a complex algorithm that looks at hundreds of variables, but in simple terms…do you know how Google works?"
"Just Google it" has become the definitive expression for searching online for practically anything. It's the go-to term that reinforces just how ingrained in our everyday lives Google truly is. But as Neil Patel, creator of the infographic How Google Works asks, have you ever wondered just how Google actually works?
On a planet of over 7 billion people, it's stunning to imagine just how many online searches Google performs in a day, let alone an hour or a minute. It's easy enough for us to simply fire up the world's flagship search engine and pop in a query to suit our needs. The results are immediate and abundant, providing us with all the knowledge we need—useful or not. We don't even think about how it all happens; we just do it and take it for granted.
This infographic is an animated look at how Google works to bring us all those results. And it's really something to see. Neil describes it this way:
"What makes Google so beautiful as a search engine is that although a lot of complex processes are taking place in the background, from a user perspective, it’s simple and easy to use. As a searcher, any time you type something, you get relevant results related to your query. And you get it all in 1/8th of a second."
Part of the process of using Information Fluency is understanding how the tools we use for online searches yield the results we need. Hopefully Neil's creative GIF infographic will shed some light on the subject of how Google works for you.
Download a printable version of this infographic
