Jimmy Wales once said, “If it isn’t on Google, it doesn’t exist.” In many ways, Wales was correct – Google is, after all, often viewed as the ultimate gatekeeper of the internet. If we want to know the answer to a question, the lyrics from a song, the date of an event, the location of a business, the public rating of a restaurant, or the details of a travel destination, we Google it. The platform is as much a noun as a verb. Its utility is inherently baked into our personal and professional habits to the degree that very few technology companies can rival. It is the most viewed website in the world, a hub of consumer data and behavior, an advertising engine, and the digital entity most trusted for its ability to satiate our relentless appetite for information.
