It has proven to be a monumental banner year for Google. It's hard to believe that one year ago, things such as Google+ and the now all-familiar +1 button were nonexistent. The company has come far from being just a search engine. For some, it is an office suite, email service, music player, social network, and much, much more. We're not exaggerating when we write "Google Nails 2011."
This year, Google underwent some major changes, both internally and externally. Some old faces returned, such as current CEO Larry Page, and some interfaces went away, as we saw when the new Gmail appeared. The company acquired dozens of startups, made some significant environmentally-friendly investments and faced a couple of antitrust issues.
We've looked at how you've used Google products in 2011, so now it's time to see what the company has done for itself. Wondering how to become the top web brand? See how Google did it right here.
January
Google's first acquisition of 2011 was eBook Technologies, a company that focused on hardware and software distribution of e-books and e-readers. In the same month, Google also acquired SayNow, a telephony startup.
It was announced in January that Larry Page, Google's first CEO from 1998 to 2001, would replace Eric Schmidt as head of the company, effective April 4. Schmidt would then take on the role of executive chairman.
In 2010, Google attempted to buy Groupon, but was rejected. Instead, the search giant launched its own service, Google Offers.
February
Google's Android 3.0, or Honeycomb, was first unveiled in January, then became available to developers in February. Also launched was the Android Market via a standard web browser.
To compete with recommendation engines and ratings/reviews systems, Google Hotpot went worldwide in February, appearing in Google's web search results. Google also released Chrome 9 Stable, which included many Chrome beta features, such as Chrome Instant, WebGL support and the Chrome Web Store.
The search giant integrated information from Twitter, Flickr and Quora into results. A tweaked algorithm, targeted content farms that produce massive amounts of useless content.
A major Gmail glitch in February left 150,000 users with disabled accounts, but the company quickly restored all lost data.
March
Google took one of its first big steps into the social scene with the integration of "+1? into search results.
Google's accquisitions in March included small ones, such as Zynamics, and larger buyouts like BeatThatQuote for $61.5 million.
There were overhauls, such as Google's Street View and stopped shipping units, to make room for the next phase, Chrome 11.
Finally, Microsoft, for the first time ever, filed an antitrust complaint against Google for using its search engine unfairly to promote its products.
April
Google co-founder Larry Page officially replaced Eric Schmidt as CEO, raising questions about changes within the company. Following his new position, Page formally promoted six executives to senior vice president positions in an attempt to break the company into distinct product areas.
Approximately 6,000 of Nortel's patents were purchased for $900 million — the portfolio included wireless, 4G, semiconductor and data networking IP. Google also purchased $100 million worth of original programs for YouTube, highlighting "channels" of topics such as arts and sports. A new and improved version of Google Analytics also rolled out to all users.
Investments from the search giant included Oklahoma Data Center and a Mojave Desert solar energy plant.
Hotpot folded into Google Places, Google Video announced its shut down (which quickly turned into a way to migrate all videos to YouTube), and Street View stopped taking pics in Germany. Google's search engine competitor Bing also grabbed our attention this month.
Google Offers went live, and Chrome 11 was released for download.
May
Google was off to a strong start in May, when it topped the list for Harris Interactive's "Most Reputable Company in the U.S." Chrome's commercials went viral, Google Image Search developed a feature that lets you search by subject, and the company began building a new and bigger, environmentally-friendly office.
At its Google I/O developer conference, the company made major announcements, including the introduction of Android's newest OS, Ice Cream Sandwich, the reveal of Google Music, and Google Movies for Android.
Facebook admitted it authorized an effort to raise concerns about Google's privacy practices, yet the company continued to roll out a Social Search feature to 19 languages.
To join the personal finance market, Google launched Google Advisor, and soon after, Google Wallet, which was immediately under fire from PayPal.
June
In June, Google became the first company ever to hit 1 billion monthly unique visitors. Notably, the company's +1 button went global and the social network Google+ was introduced to the world.
Social engagement data startup PostRank announced it had been acquired from Google, as well as Admeld, a yield optimization firm.
Improvements in June include Chrome 12 stable's release, a revamp of its mobile interface and the inclusion of voice search in the desktop version. Google's Chromebooks also arrived for purchase in stores.
The Federal Trade Commission prepared the most comprehensive antitrust investigation of the company's business practices yet, requesting information from Google, as well as other companies in relation with it.
July
With the debut of Google+ came a surge of interested users and 1 billion shares per day. Google, as a whole, began a complete rebranding.
The company continued attempts into the e-reader market with the first device using the Google eBooks platform, the iriver Story HD.
Google Labs was shut down to focus more on Google's products, and Google Toolbar for Firefox retired as well.
August
After a successful first month of existence, Google+ continued to renovate by adding games, but also it started to integrate with other Google services, as we began to see Google+ posts appear in Google search results. Also revived was Google Realtime Search.
The company acquired Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, and we got a sneak peek at what was to come for Android's Ice Cream Sandwich OS.
Beta users of Google Music began to see steps toward a music market with the launch of Magnifier.
September
The search giant celebrated its 13th birthday in September as the world's most valuable brand. After a few months in beta, Google+ became open to everyone.
Google's gone old school this year with a retro-styled birthday party snapshot.
Last year Google borrowed a Wayne Thiebaud cake to mark its 12th year in business.
Google kept things simple in 2009; it replaced the "L" of the logo with the number 11.
For Google's 10th anniversary the logo reverted to the original design from 1998. Apparently the server rack symbolizes what Google had hoped to receive as a birthday present.
Google's second "G" was replaced with a colorful piñata in 2007, appropriately shaped like a number nine to mark that special day.
A cute cupcake greeted Google users on Sept. 27, 2006.
Seven scrumptious-looking slices of cake decorated the logo to occasion Google's seventh year in business.
In 2004 Google selected Sept. 7 to celebrate its six-year milestone.
The company also chose Sept. 7, 2003 as the date to cut the cake for Google's fifth birthday.
Finally, the very first doodle celebrating Google's birthday appeared on September 27, 2002. It marked the search engine's 4th anniversary.
The Google +1 button, Google Wallet and Google+ Hangouts all arrived on mobile web. Google+'s overall arrival meant a shutdown for social search and question-and-answer service Aardvark.
News-reading tool Fast Flip was discontinued, and local reviews giant Zagat was acquired. The company also quietly launched travel tool Flight Search.
October
Google +1 buttons continued to catch on, as we saw displayed on ads in the company's Display Network. Google also integrated real-time search and hashtags into Google+.
Google+ began to see some negative reviews, a sustained downward trend, and a Google engineer became famous for his rant, a slip up criticizing the company's social platform. The heads of the company, however, appeared to get the message.
To focus on the social network, Google Buzz was shut down. Google Reader got a revamp, which quickly received backlash from users.
Google and Samsung officially launched the Ice Cream Sandwich OS, as well as the Galaxy Nexus smartphone.
November
After buzz about Google+ had finally appeared to simmer, Gmail was next up to the plate with a complete makeover. The changes gave Gmail users more control, however not everyone received immediate access to it. Just hours after its launch, the iOS app was removed from the iTunes app store to fix a problem.
Google also showed a bit of character, as discovered in the "Do a Barrel Roll" Easter egg. Although this is not the first hidden Google trick, it definitely received a noteworthy amount of talk.
Brand pages for Google+ were finally unveiled, including businesses and brands in the social network. The +1 button continued growing, appearing now in image searches.
Also in November, Google introduced Google Music, a complete suite of music services, including the much-anticipated Music Store.
December
Google began December with the introduction of activity recommendation engine Schemer, news aggregator Currents and improvements to Google+ such as face detection. The company also received a patent for its driverless car technology.
On the mobile sphere, the much-anticipated Galaxy Nexus was finally released for sale and the Android Market surpassed 10 billion downloads.
Google ended 2011 with more than 150 million users each month according to a Nielsen study, making it the top digital U.S. web company.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ilbusca
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