https://www.cnet.com/news/after-20-years-of-google-search-breakthroughs-but-also-controversy/

The message resonated -- it's obvious whenever you Google something. Type in a query, and Google's search engine, which officially turns 20 on Thursday, shows you the number of results and how long it took to get them. Search time today: typically less than half a second.

Now, Gomes runs all of Google search. In a nondescript conference room at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California, Gomes talks about the early days and their mission. Sitting across from him is and Emily Moxley, a nine-year Google veteran who leads product management for the search results page. She remembers Page's obsession with speed too. "Larry's always been very interested in latency and doing things really fast," she says. "There's stories of him playing with demoes, and he'll start counting the seconds as the results get returned."