2021

While the past 12 months have been difficult for both travelers and the travel industry, we’re optimistic about the road ahead. People are eager to know when they can travel again, and travel companies are wondering how they can best meet consumer needs once the pandemic subsides. We’ve been helping answer some of these questions with data-driven tools for users and the travel industry – but this is only one piece of the puzzle.

When travel does resume in earnest, it’s crucial that people can find the information they’re looking for and easily connect with travel companies online. For many years, we’ve helped travelers choose the right hotel by providing a list of relevant properties, along with information like reviews, photos, and hotel amenities. Hotel booking links have been offered via Hotel Ads, which display real-time pricing and availability for specific dates of travel. We’ve seen that users find these hotel booking links to be highly useful, and partners find them to be a valuable source of potential customers. 

Now, we’re improving this experience by making it free for hotels and travel companies around the world to appear in hotel booking links, beginning this week on google.com/travel. With full access to a wider range of hotel prices, users will have a more comprehensive set of options as they research their trip and ultimately decide where to book.

In this post: The Google Trends tool shows us search interest in all things feta, cheese and pasta, including data on the viral feta pasta. 

Every season of quarantine can be marked by a food trend. Last year around this time, we were all experimenting with sourdough and banana bread. On the heels of our carbo loads came dalgona coffee. I’d be remiss not to mention the viral quesadilla hack. 

And now, we’ve arrived at the latest: the baked feta pasta. 

The beauty is in its simplicity — all you need are grape or cherry tomatoes, pasta noodles of your choice (though according to social feeds everywhere, penne seems to be a favorite), some olive oil, whatever seasonings you prefer and (of course) a big, salty block of feta. 

But you probably knew all of that already. What you might not know is how wildly interested the world is in this food trend — so we asked the Google Trends team to tell us. 

Who do you think of when you hear the words sister, daughter, mother? How about when the words are leader, founder, CEO? As a mom of three, I want my kids to grow up in a world where the second set of words is as likely as the first to bring a woman to mind. Which is why we’re elevating the voices of women and making sure their stories are heard in today’s #MyDomain series. On this International Women’s Day, Google Registry

https://www.registry.google/

is sharing eight new videos — all featuring female leaders who are taking care of business on their .app and .dev domains. 

Alice Truswell

Alice Truswell is co-founder of Snoop.app, a money-saving app. “Fear being forgettable more than fearing not fitting in,” she says, “because the earlier you get comfortable with your voice, the earlier you can start refining results.”

Annie Hwang

Annie Hwang is co-founder of Jemi.app, a company that helps creators and public figures interact with their audiences and make money. “Don’t let imposter syndrome ever stop you,” she advises. “We’ve grown up in a society where we are constantly told that we should be a follower. Don’t be a follower anymore; be a leader!”

Elena Czubiak

Elena Czubiak is the developer and designer behind saturdaydesign.dev and co-founder of imaginarie.app. She quit her day job in 2018 to start her own business and hasn’t looked back since. Elena says, “Remember that although it might feel like starting over, you’ll quickly see that your unique experiences will help you solve problems and make connections that nobody else could.”

Ifrah Khan

Ifrah Khan is co-founder of Clubba.app, a platform that provides virtual creative extracurricular clubs (led by college students) for kids ages 6 to 12.  Ifrah encourages entrepreneurial women to find and connect with other women who are also working on their own ventures. “Really talk to them and get to know their journey,” she says. “If they fundraised, how did they fundraise? Fundraising is so hard when you start your own business in general, but as a woman it’s even harder.”

Rita Kozlov

Rita Kozlov is a product manager who leads the Cloudflare Workers product, which uses the workers.dev domain. Rita’s advice for women who want to become a product manager is, “Don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions. In product management that’s definitely 100% a strength and never a weakness.”

Romina Arrigoni Samsó 

Romina Arrigoni Samsó is founder and CEO of ADDSKIN.app, a social marketplace for skincare, where community recommendations help customers choose the best products. Romina says, “La gracia de la tecnología es que como dice el dicho, el avión se construye en el aire. Lo importante es lanzarse,” which translates to, “The grace of technology is that, as the saying goes, the plane is built in the air. The important thing is to launch.”

Soraya Jaber

Soraya Jaber is co-founder and CEO of Minsar.app, a no-code AR-VR creative and publishing platform. “We don’t care about your age, your gender, your race, or sexual orientation — there is no space where you are not allowed,” Soraya says.“Don’t hinder yourself, jump into entrepreneurship. I can assure you that’s a hell of a great adventure!”

Stefania Olafsdóttir

Stefania Olafsdóttir is the co-founder and CEO of Avo.app, a next-generation analytics governance company. Her advice? “It’s way more important to be brave than to be perfect.”

To see a special video featuring all these amazing women, check out goo.gle/mydomain. If you have a unique story to share about a .app, .dev, or .page domain and would like to be considered for our series, please fill out this short application form. Here’s to helping tell the stories of women everywhere so that we may inspire generations to come.

It’s Saturday morning and my son is pointing at the TV, cheerful as ever. The “You’re Welcome” music video from Disney’s “Moana” is playing for the tenth time. As a new father, I’m always thinking about the role technology will play in my children’s lives. From Google Kids Space on select Android tablets to teacher-approved apps in Google Play, we’ve already made a lot of progress in helping our kids explore online, but the work isn’t over.

That’s why today, we’re taking our first step in delivering family features on Google TV with the introduction of kids profiles. Setting up a profile for each of your kids is easy: You can add an existing Google account for a child or create a new profile with just their name and age.

With Google TV, we thought about what families need from the biggest screen in the house. I personally want to be able to find my shows and movies, without being overwhelmed by my kids’ content. At the same time, I want to be able to manage my kids’ screen time and know that what they’re watching is appropriate for them. Read on for some of my favorite features of kids profiles.

TV — for you and your kids

Parents will be able to pick which apps to add to their child’s profile. Kids profiles will feature rows with recommendations from kid-friendly apps, so your kids can easily find what to watch. And with Google Play Family Library, you can share access to TV shows and movies you’ve already purchased on other devices (“Moana” on repeat is absolutely an option).

This past year has reminded us that the most important news stories are often complex and ever-evolving. Stories like the COVID-19 pandemic and the U.S. elections played out over many months, with myriad threads and developments all happening at once. People are hungry for context that helps them break down and understand these complicated stories from multiple perspectives.

In 2018, we first introduced the Full Coverage feature as part of Google News. With just a tap, people can see top news, local headlines, in-depth pieces, explainers, interviews and more on a developing news story. We’re now bringing Full Coverage to Search, making it easier for more people to explore all aspects of a story from a variety of perspectives. 

When you’re searching for information on a timely topic, you see a carousel of articles at the top of your Search results highlighting relevant news. Now for big, developing news stories, you can tap into a Full Coverage page after scrolling to the end of the top stories carousel or by selecting “More news on…” right below the carousel. 

Empowering women and girls has long been one of my personal missions. As the brave women who have been the “firsts” throughout history have proven time and time again, when we uplift women and girls, we uplift everyone. For me, that’s the spirit of International Women’s Day.

With 250 million fewer women online than men, Google is on a mission to bridge the digital divide and empower women and girls through technology, in partnership with organizations like UN Women. That’s why earlier today at a special Google for India Women Will event, we announced a new $25 million Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls, providing funding and Googler expertise to nonprofits and social enterprises around the world creating pathways to prosperity for women and girls. 

It’s exciting to go from being the only girl in my applied math class, to being on the panel of judges for this Impact Challenge, surrounded by more than 25 inspiring women. And this year, it is just one of the ways we are honoring the pioneers of the women’s movement, while supporting the next generation of “firsts.”

Celebrating the first of many 

From the first woman astronaut to the first woman to climb Mount Everest, in the past year, the world searched for “the first woman” more than ever before. These trailblazers continue to inspire new generations, especially young women and girls who are striving to achieve their own firsts today. Google is celebrating women who have achieved historical firsts, as well as the many who have come after them. 

Our annual International Women’s Day Doodle explores the journey of the “firsts” throughout history on Google Search homepages around the world. From activists to scientists, writers and artists from around the world, this year’s Doodle imagery shows the hands that opened the doors for women of today.

Supporting the next generation of “firsts”

In addition to celebrating women who have achieved historical firsts, we’re also looking for ways to support the next generation of women changemakers, business owners and leaders.

In 2020, the number of women-led identified businesses on Google grew 163% globally compared to the year before. Now, we’re making it even easier for you to find and support the women-led businesses in your community. Simply search in English for “women-led” — “women-led restaurants,” “women-led clothing stores” and more — on Google Search and Maps to quickly see women-led businesses in your area. 

We’re also providing $6 million in Ad Grants to UN Women to help raise awareness about the outsized impact COVID-19 has on women and girls, and a team of Googler volunteers is working alongside them to highlight these critical PSAs across more than 200 countries and territories. 

To support women-led businesses, cultivate women leaders in technology and help keep women and young girls safe online, we’re hosting a number of global programs: 

• Today we kick off our month-long, global virtual International Women’s Day event series.Hosted by women tech leaders at Google, we’ll gather women in tech to participate in talks, professional development workshops, conversations about the intersection of technology and culture as well as health and wellness sessions.

• Throughout March and April, Women Techmakersand Google Developer Groups around the world will host more than 150 events for women developers to learn about new technologies, connect with others and get inspired by keynote speakers, including Melonie Parker, Chief Diversity Officer at Google, and Sairee Chahal, Founder and CEO of SHEROES. 

• Across the U.S., Canada and Latin America, we’re hosting series of free training sessions  through our Grow with Google Women Willand #IamRemarkable leadership programs, ranging from digital toolsto help women entrepreneurs as they grow their businesses online and support job seekers to identifying bias and overcoming barriers in the workplace. 

• As one element of our commitment to UN Women’s Generation Equality Action Coalition for Technology and Innovation, Google’s Advanced Protection and Jigsaw teams will offer consultations and online safety and security workshops for UN chapters and organizations around the world that support women who are at higher-risk of online attacks including journalists, activists, politicians and executives.

Continuing to uplift the achievements of women around the world

Google Arts & Culture has collaborated with Women of the World Foundation to highlight 100 women-led initiatives that are challenging the status quo and invoking positive change for all. As part of a new photographer exhibition, everyone can meet the women behind inspirational projects and initiatives in fields like health, climate change andidentity. In addition, educators and students can access10 new lesson plans covering fields of expertise where women have traditionally been overlooked, such as art, science and music.

I wouldn’t be where I am today if not for the incredible women and men who have worked tirelessly to ensure all women could have a seat at the table. International Women’s Day is a time for celebration and action. I hope you’ll join us as we honor the trailblazers that have paved the way for generations of women and girls, and sign up to participate in any number of events taking place throughout the month of March.