What is Google’s tone of voice?
Tone of voice refers to the style and personality a brand uses to communicate with its audience. It’s an important part of a brand’s identity, similar to visual branding elements like logo and color palette. A consistent tone of voice allows a brand to form an emotional connection with its customers and project its core values.
For example, an outdoors clothing company might use an adventurous, nature-loving tone, while a tech company may opt for a more informal, conversational style.
Tone of voice goes beyond word choice – it encompasses sentence structure, punctuation, imagery, and more. Defining a clear tone of voice and using it consistently across marketing materials, social media, website copy, and other touchpoints helps strengthen brand recognition, trust, and loyalty. This article will explore the key elements of Google’s unique and widely-recognized tone of voice.
Google’s Founding Principles
Google’s mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” (https://about.google/philosophy/). This statement reflects the company’s founding philosophy around organizing and providing access to information.
Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, believed that the most important thing was to focus on the user and to provide the best user experience possible. As stated in their founding philosophy, “We believe that every detail matters and we must get them right” (https://about.google/philosophy/).
Google aimed to make search seamless, efficient, comprehensive and universally accessible. They wanted to organize the exponentially growing amount of information on the web and make the world’s information accessible to everyone.
Simplicity and Clarity
Google aims for simplicity, clarity, and usefulness in communication. According to the Google Design principles, Google strives to “communicate clearly, precisely, and simply to enhance understanding.” Google’s design philosophy emphasizes removing unnecessary complexity so users can focus on what matters.
For example, Google Search has a clean, simple interface that makes it easy for users to find information. The Google homepage contains just the search bar and buttons – no clutter or distractions. This aligns with Google’s focus on creating intuitive products that let users complete tasks efficiently.
Google also prioritizes clarity in language over sounding overly clever. Their writing guidelines state to “use clear, concise, down-to-earth language” and to avoid excessive jargon. The goal is for users to immediately understand what Google products do without extra cognitive load.
Conversational and Friendly
Google aims to use clear, conversational language that is welcoming and friendly in tone. As stated in the Google developer documentation style guide, “Write conversationally; prefer “you” and “your.” Speak directly to the user and avoid passive voice. The end result should sound like you’re explaining a concept to a coworker while sitting together at lunch.”
Google’s documentation avoids overly formal or stiff language. The focus is on explaining concepts in a simple, straightforward way that feels like a helpful discussion. Using “you” and other friendly language creates a sense of speaking directly to the user.
For example, documentation might say “You can add custom fonts by following these steps” rather than “The addition of customized fonts can be accomplished by following these steps.” Google wants its documentation to sound relaxed and conversational, not overly technical or verbose.
This friendly, conversational tone allows Google’s documentation to connect better with users. By avoiding stiff or overly formal language, Google’s writing feels welcoming and natural to read.
Inclusive
Google aims to be inclusive and avoid bias in language. As per their inclusive documentation guidelines, Google advises writers to “Avoid ableist language · Avoid unnecessarily gendered language · Avoid unnecessarily violent language · Write diverse and inclusive examples · Avoid …” This approach stems from Google’s commitment to diversity and inclusion across all their products and services.
However, Google’s new “assistive writing” feature, which provides suggestions for more inclusive language, has received some criticism for being overly “woke.” Critics argue the feature promotes politically correct language rather than effective communication. But advocates say “Inclusive language works to avoid stereotypes, bias, and discrimination against groups of people, and makes the receiver feel like they’re part of the conversation.”
Overall, Google aims to promote inclusive language while also providing clear and natural communication. It’s a balance between avoiding bias while not compromising understandability.
Playful at Times
Google has built a reputation for being fun and playful with products like Google Doodles and April Fools’ pranks. Though Google aims to be helpful and professional overall, it embraces a more playful tone when appropriate. For example, Google frequently inserts jokes and hoaxes into its products on April Fools’ Day each year, taking advantage of the informal nature of the holiday [1]. Some of Google’s most memorable April Fools’ jokes involved pranking Google Maps and announcing joke products like Google Nose and Google Panda [2]. Though Google canceled its annual April Fools’ tradition in 2020 and 2021 due to the seriousness of the global pandemic, the company’s past pranks demonstrate its willingness to be silly and playful when the moment calls for it [3].
Factual
Google places high importance on being factual and accurate in its communications. As a company built on organizing the world’s information, Google emphasizes truthful, evidence-based information.
Google has developed various tools and initiatives focused on fact-checking and combating misinformation, such as the Fact Check Explorer and the Google News Initiative. These resources help verify facts, provide fact check information about public claims, and promote media literacy (see Fact Check Explorer and Google Fact Check Tools).
Across its products and communications, Google aims to share information that is supported by credible sources and data. The company strives to correct any factual errors or inconsistencies. Google’s commitment to accuracy helps build user trust.
Personalized
Google aims to make communication feel more human by personalizing it based on the user’s context. For example, Google Assistant’s responses will vary based on details it knows about the user from their Google account and past interactions. The Google homepage will also showcase customized modules and information cards based on the user’s location, search history, and interests. This personalized touch makes users feel recognized as individuals, not just anonymous visitors.
Google products like Gmail may even adjust wording in messages based on relationships and past conversations with contacts. Personalized communication that demonstrates familiarity with the user can build trust and rapport. At the same time, Google balances relevant personalization with respecting privacy boundaries.
Examples
Google employs their friendly and conversational tone across many of their products and services. Here are some examples:
Google Search – The search engine uses plain language and avoids technical jargon. The interface feels like you’re conversing with a helpful assistant.
Gmail – Emails from Gmail often start with friendly greetings like “Hi” and feature the use of contractions, emojis, and a casual writing style.
Google Ads – Their advertisements speak directly to users and avoid overly sales-y language. The focus is on being relatable and connecting with customers.
Google Assistant – The conversational AI assistant uses natural language, banter, empathy, and wit to make interactions feel human-like.
Google social media – Google’s social media presence shows their playful side through memes, gifs, and lighthearted content.
Impact
Google’s playful and friendly tone has become a core part of its brand. It reflects the company’s informal culture and mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible (Brand Resource Center). When Google rebranded with a new logo and identity in 2015, it aimed to maintain the brand’s accessibility while conveying the breadth of its products (Evolving the Google Identity). The designers focused on creating a simple, friendly, and open brand that aligned with Google’s playful personality and approachability.
Google’s tone gives it more than just a personality – it builds trust and affinity. By speaking conversationally and casually, Google makes users feel comfortable rather than formal or distant. The friendly voice invites users in rather than intimidating them with heavy corporate jargon. This aligns with Google’s mission to organize information and make it useful for everyone.