Larry Page and Sergey Brin, students at Stanford University in California, developed a search algorithm first (1996) known as "BackRub", with the help of Scott Hassan and Alan Steremberg.

The two scholars conceived the idea of a unique search engine that would organize search results based on the popularity of web pages. Initially known as ‘Backrub,’ the search engine underwent structural and conceptual refinements before emerging as the Google we know today.

This was the name of the search engine two Stanford PhD students – Larry Page and Sergey Brin – started developing in 1996. The name “Backrub” came from how the search engine analyzed “backlinks” pointing to websites to understand their importance for ranking purposes.