Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in September 1998, introducing a search algorithm that ranked pages by link authority rather than keyword density alone. Within a few years it became the dominant gateway to human knowledge online, transforming research, education, and the discovery of literary resources. For poetry readers and educators, it made finding texts, criticism, and poet biographies faster and more democratic than ever before.

The founding of Google in 1998 and the maturation of search engines transformed research and discovery for poets, facilitating access to poetic traditions. Writers like Claudia Rankine and Ocean Vuong utilized these tools to explore diverse influences, enriching their creative processes.