Have you ever heard of “Googling yourself?” If you have not, you probably need to read up on the current internet lingo. For those of you who think this term sounds in some way perverse, fear not! Google is an internet search engine and one of the most popular ones out there. Now used as both a noun and a verb, to “Google” oneself means to type your own name into the search field and see what pops up. There are many search engines on the World Wide Web today, each of them helping to make traveling the internet highways and byways a little easier for those who just need some information. Three of the most popular are Yahoo! and, of course, the previously mentioned Google.

Enter Yahoo!

The name itself should just make you smile. Yahoo! is an acronym that stands for “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.” Creators David Filo and Jerry Yang, both members of Stanford University’s finest, claim that they like the meaning behind the word as much as the acronym itself: rude, unsophisticated, and uncouth. The engine actually began as “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web.” The engine initially spread like wildfire throughout the college campus as fellow students discovered how much more accessible the internet was using this newly created tool. In 1995, Filo and Yang incorporated their business and were Silicon Valley-bound. Yahoo! is now huge, providing service to 345 million people monthly.

Google

As mentioned above, Google is also one of the world’s most popular search engines. Similar to Yahoo!, Google began as a research project at Stanford University, finally making its mark when it went online in 1997. According to Search Engine World, a member of PHD Software Systems, Google provides a very unique way of providing search results. They use PageRank, a system through which they can filter irrelevant results. The year 2000 marked the time when Google would no longer be a Stanford project, but a lone operative search engine. And if you have not “googled” yourself yet, try it. You might be surprised at what you find out about yourself.