What Happens When You Type google.com
An interactive network journey · ~200ms total
01
You Press Enter
Browser reads the URL bar. Checks if it’s a search query or real domain.
Browser
02
Cache Lookup
Browser checks local DNS cache. Already visited? Skip the DNS step entirely.
Browser
03
DNS Resolution
OS → Router → ISP → Root → TLD → Authoritative DNS. Converts “google.com” → IP.
Network
04
TCP Handshake
SYN → SYN-ACK → ACK. A reliable connection is established to Google’s server.
Network
05
TLS Handshake
Server shares certificate. Encryption keys negotiated. All traffic now encrypted (HTTPS).
Security
06
HTTP Request
GET / HTTP/2 sent. Browser includes headers: User-Agent, Accept, Cookies, etc.
Network
07
Server Response
Google’s data center processes the request. Returns HTML, CSS, JS with HTTP 200 OK.
Server
08
Browser Renders
HTML parsed → DOM built → CSS applied → JS executed → Page painted on screen.
Browser
Progress
Step — of 8
👆 Click any step to explore it
Each card above represents a stage in the journey from your keyboard to Google’s homepage. Click to see technical details.