Google wasn't the first internet search engine, and it is arguably not the best. So how did it's name become a verb synonomous with searching the internet?

There are multiple answers to that question, but on a fundamental level, the answer is simple: Google understands marketing in a way that few people or companies can rival.

To understand Google's brilliance, consider their competition, Yahoo and MSN Live. Google has their fingers in just as many pies, but what do you see when you visit Google.com? A search engine, plain and simple, with a few additional buttons for enhanced searching.

What of Yahoo and MSN Live? The pages are littered with news, email notifications, videos, links, and pictures of overcooked celebrities. Somewhere in that mess is a search engine, but you probably didn't notice it at first because Britney Spears' spare tire was hanging over her belt in a huge picture.

Do you remember when Google went public with their IPO? It made national news, not just once but repeatedly, because Google made a public challenge to itself that it would open at $100/share.

In an effort to avoid getting technical, I'll leave the SEO-babble at a minimum: Google Adwords is the largest pay-per-click advertising service in the world, by a LOT. Their search algorithms are the stuff of techno-nerd late night legend, based on a mystique created by Google themselves.

And the mystery doesn't end there. They are virtually impossible to contact by telephone, even if you are an online business or internet marketing company whose livelihood depends on search engine results, and they've banned you for some arcane and esoteric reason.

To bring this rumbling engine of a rant to a halt, consider Gmail. Gmail is fundamentally no different from any other email, but Google magically convinced the world that their email was different. How? Once again, marketing. First they said it was new, and different, and fun (literally; just go to their homepage), and then they added their finely honed mystique by making Gmail "invitation only."

Simple stuff, when broken down, but then again that's the idea: combine simplicity with mystery, with a dash of exclusivity, and you've suddenly branded the Number 1 search engine of all time, whether it deserves to be or not.

Brian Davis owns a small SEO company called Echelon SEO (don't bother searching for it, we don't have a webpage, counter-intuitive as that may sound). He has managed search engine optimization campaigns for such national companies as EZ Landlord Forms and National Quick Quotes Insurance, and in another life serves as a film critic for several magazines in Baltimore, MD.

He can be reached by email at bdavis@stewartsachs.com