Google in 1999: What It Looked Like and How to See It

There's no search phrase that turns Google into its 1999 self. That surprises people, because "Google in 1998" has a well-known trick. For 1999, the honest route is the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, which keeps real snapshots of the pages as they were. This guide shows what the 1999 homepage looked like, how to find it yourself, and how to avoid the fake "1999 Google" pages that float around.

How to see Google in 1999

Use the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Go to web.archive.org, type google.com into the search bar, and open the 1999 section of the calendar. Pick a date with a dot, and you'll see Google's homepage as it was captured then. Some captures are missing images, so the logo may appear broken.

1. Open web.archive.org in any browser.
2. Enter google.com in the box and press Enter.
3. On the timeline at the top, click 1999.
4. Choose a month and click a highlighted day on the calendar.
5. Click the time stamp to load that snapshot.
6. If the logo is missing, try a different date. Capture quality varies a lot for old pages.

What Google looked like in 1999

The 1999 homepage was famously sparse, and the same restraint is what made it stand out among its competitors. Early Google pages featured a colorful wordmark that included an exclamation mark, a single search box, and two buttons: Google Search and I'm Feeling Lucky. Beyond that, there was little else. Rival portals of the time, such as AltaVista, Excite and Lycos, crowded their front pages with news, weather, shopping links and ads.

A short timeline of Google's early years

Google began as a Stanford research project in the mid-1990s, first called BackRub. The company was incorporated on September 4, 1998. The earliest Wayback capture of Google's site dates back to late 1998, and a Technologizer review of those early captures noted a page that bragged about indexing about 25 million pages. Today, the number of pages Google knows about is vastly larger, which tells you how much the web grew in a quarter century.

In 1999, the story moves fast. Google reportedly raised $25 million from Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins in June of that year, and it officially dropped its beta label later in 1999, according to common histories. I'd confirm those exact dates against a primary source before you quote them, since company histories often differ by a few weeks.

Google in 1999 vs the Google in 1998 trick

These two get mixed up, so here's the difference.

If you want a one-search experience, the Google in 1998 trick is quicker. If you want the genuine old page, use the Wayback Machine. They complement each other: the trick shows you the idea, and the archive shows you the evidence.

Beware of fake "Google 1999" pages

A search for "Google 1999" turns up mirror sites and novelty pages that claim to be the old Google. Some are harmless recreations. Others exist to show ads or collect clicks. A few simple checks help.

Fun ways to explore old Google

You can compare the same page in 1999, 2005, 2010 and now by opening snapshots in separate tabs. The changes in logo, layout and features tell the story of web design better than any article.

You can also look at old pages for other sites from the same year to see what Google was competing against. The contrast makes the clean search box look like a bold decision.

For something playful on the modern page, you can try a temporary effect like the Google Underwater trick. And if you'd like your own browser to look different today, here's how to change the Google homepage background.

For a broader collection of Google's hidden touches, see the Google easter eggs list for 2026.

Troubleshooting the Wayback Machine

Frequently asked questions

Further reading

• Internet Archive Wayback Machine – browse saved snapshots of google.com and other sites.