In March of 2001, Schmidt surprised many when he became board chair of Google, Inc., the California-'based Internet search engine. "I just liked the company," Schmidt recalled. "It's as simple as that." Five months later, he was made Google's new CEO. Google was founded in 1998 by two Stanford University doctoral students, Larry Page and Sergey Brinn. It began as a search service for the techie insiders, but quickly caught on with more and more web users for its uncluttered look and impressively quick search results. And it was soon one of the top 15 most-visited websites. "They're, the eBay of information," a Morgan Stanley analyst, told Fortune. "You go to eBay to find things that are hard to find. You go to Google to find information that is hard to find."
2001年3月，施密特就任总部设在加州的网络搜索引擎谷歌集团董事长，这令很多人感到惊奇。施密特回忆道，“我只是很喜欢这个公司，就这么简单！”5个月后，他走马上任谷歌的首席执行官。谷歌成立于1998年，创始人是斯坦福的两个博士生拉里·佩奇和谢尔盖·布林。谷歌最初只是为内部技术人员提供搜索服务，但它简洁的界面和快捷的搜索吸引了越来越多的使用者。不久，它就成为15个访客最多的网站之一。一位摩根斯坦利分析人士在接受〈财富〉采访时说，“谷歌是信息交流的平台，就像易趣网一样。在易趣网上你能找到别处找不到的东西，同理，在谷歌上你可以找到别处找不到的信息。”
Succeeding Page as CEO, Schmidt was viewed as the leader who would make Google the next Yahoo or Amazon.com. Schmidt felt at home at the company, which boasts 50 employees with Ph.D.s among a start of 400. Google's iconoclasm was evident in all aspects of the company-from the absence of large banner, ads on its search page to the motorized scooters that employees rode inside headquarters.
施密特继佩奇之后成为谷歌第二任首席执行官，人们都认为在他的带领下，谷歌能够发展壮大成为第二个雅虎或亚马逊。施密特视公司如家，公司里400多名员工中有50名拥有博士学位。“打破传统”是谷歌的不二信条。从谷歌主页不设标幅式广告到总部内部职员们骑的便捷电动滑行车，这一理念无处不在。