Visiting the Google homepage today may make you go “wow.” It has one of the most wild and explosive special Google logos I have ever seen. There are dozens of balls that make up the Google logo, and they bounce around the screen all to come together to form “Google.” The balls in the logo will bounce off your cursor, so if you move your cursor off the browser window, the logo will come together.

Here is a video and a static logo:

A Google spokesperson emailed us about the logo:

Today’s doodle is not related to a birthday but is fast, fun and interactive, just the way we think search should be.

Google’s birthday has been celebrated on various dates in September but lately, it has been Sept. 27 that’s used as the official date, as our Finding The Real Google Birthday article explains more.

As for the statement, it may imply that something “fast, fun and interactive” will be announced at tomorrow’s big search event that Google is holding. I suspect until then, we really won’t know the true meaning of this logo.

The sad part is that there are many complaints about Google going over the top today for their logo. Personally, I like it but many do not.

For more about Google logos, also see our Those Special Google Logos, Sliced & Diced, Over The Years article and Insert Coin, Play Pac-Man — In The Google Logo! A 30th Anniversary Tribute, which covers another interactive logo that Google featured earlier this year.

Postscript: You can read our live blogging or learn how to watch the Google search event live at 9:30 PST by going here.

Related Topics: Google: Logos | Top News

About The Author: Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here. For more background information on Barry, see his full bio over here. See more articles by Barry Schwartz