Google Turns 27: Vintage 1998 Logo Makes a Comeback in Birthday Doodle Celebration
Google Turns 27: Vintage 1998 Logo Makes a Comeback in Birthday Doodle Celebration
Birthdays come every year, but when it’s the birthday of the world’s most famous digital know-it-all — Google — it’s worth celebrating. For millions across the globe, especially in countries like India where people often joke and refer to it as “Google Baba” for having all the answers, this tech giant has become more than just a search engine. And now, Google is officially 27 years old.
To mark the occasion, Google brought back a slice of internet nostalgia by featuring its very first logo from 1998 as a special birthday Doodle. This throwback to the late ’90s isn’t just a design change — it’s a tribute to how far the company has come. The Doodle has gone live in several countries, including India, the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Thailand, evoking fond memories of the early days of the internet.
Founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two computer science students who met at Stanford University, Google started as a research project with one simple but ambitious goal — to make the World Wide Web easier to navigate. Their shared vision led to the birth of Google on September 4, 1998, but it was on September 27, 1998, that Google Inc. was officially established.
Interestingly, for the first seven years, Google celebrated its birthday on September 4. But later, the date was shifted to September 27, which has since become the official anniversary celebrated globally. For those unfamiliar, a Google Doodle is a fun and artistic twist on the classic Google logo that appears on the homepage to commemorate significant events — be it historical moments, holidays, global figures, or company milestones.
But did you know the very first Doodle was more of a playful message than a celebration? Back in 1998, Larry and Sergey used a rough Doodle design as a way to let users know they were “out of office” attending the Burning Man festival. It was a subtle but clever way of saying, “We’re away, but Google is still running.” Since then, the Doodle has become a powerful storytelling tool and cultural symbol.
The first-ever international Doodle came two years later in 2000, celebrating Bastille Day in France. Since then, thousands of Doodles have graced Google’s homepage, each one uniquely designed to reflect diverse cultures, inventions, and iconic personalities.
What started as a minimalist search page is now a vast ecosystem of products and innovations — from Gmail, Google Photos, Maps, Drive, to advanced AI tools like Gemini. Over the last 27 years, Google has grown into a tech titan, shaping the way we access information, communicate, and navigate the world around us. To celebrate the big 27, Google India took to X (formerly Twitter) and shared a nostalgic post featuring the 1998 version of the homepage along with the vintage logo. Their message read: “27 years later, still curious, still searching. Celebrating Google’s 27th birthday with today’s Doodle” — a gentle reminder that while the technology has evolved, the mission remains the same.
