Google 'most favoured brand'

The internet giant Google has today topped a poll of the UK’s favourite brands.

Google beat Nokia to the top spot, with online retailer Amazon in third.

The Google search system, which has become the major success story of the internet-age, was founded in 1998 by two PhD students.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin came up with the concept while working on a research project at Stanford University.

The search engine was originally nicknamed 'BackRub' because the system checked backlinks to estimate a site’s importance but was later changed to Google, a misspelling of “googol”.

The internet giant knocked Microsoft off the top spot in the annual Brandz Top 100 Most Powerful Brands ranking last month, with its brand value now $66.4bn (€48.9bn).

Last year, it bought video-sharing website YouTube for ($1.22bn) in shares.

Pot Noodle, the snack favoured by students, was voted the most hated brand in the poll, closely followed by McDonald’s.

The convenience food was launched by Golden Wonder in 1977 based on the Japanese idea of ’cup noodles’.

Its place at the top of this year’s poll means it has won the title of “most hated brand” for the second year running.

Online retailer Amazon rose 14 places up the favourite brands list, reflecting the public’s growing fervour for buying products on the internet instead of in high-street stores.