Sunday marked the tenth birthday of the popular search engine Google.

The search engine, which was incorporated on September 7th 1998, is now responsible for a multitude of online applications and services including blogging, social networking, instant messaging, online maps and email alongside the internet search that made it famous.

Google was imagined in 1995 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, two Stanford University students who ran the service from their dormitory room before moving it out to a suburban garage.

The name for the organisation was named after a word created by mathematician Milton Sirotta, googol, a term used to describe a number one followed by 100 zeroes.

The company now operates in 20 countries across the world, with UK-based offices in Manchester and London, as well as 16 locations in the United States.

Google's motto, "don't be evil", was explained by the company: "It's built around the recognition that everything we do in connection with our work at Google will be, and should be, measured against the highest possible standards of ethical business conduct."