How do I create a Google account?

I suppose you already know that it is not necessary to have a Google account to use the Google search engine. So why do you need one? Though Google started off as a search engine company, over the years it has launched tons of services including the famous Gmail email with 1GB storage, Google Talk, Google Calendar, Blog (Blogger), iGoogle, RSS Reader etc. that do require you to create a Google account. The process is quite simple - involves filling up a short online form and we shall go over this in a moment. Also, creating a Google account is 100% free and the same login details can be used to access all the other services including the recently launched Google web pages for personal profiles.
Create a Google account in a couple of minutes


image                              Go to the Google Accounts page at https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount which displays a short form with only 5 fields. All you need to do it enter your existing email address, a password, select your location and check the terms of service.
Don't have an email address yet?

If you don't own an email address yet, I suggest you refer to get Gmail address for step by step instructions. By the way, a Gmail email address is not a prerequisite for a Google Account - any email account will do.


A note on selecting a password
The password is the key to you Google account - you cannot afford to lose it. The password should be easy for you to remember and difficult for others to guess it outright. As you can understand, the names of your spouse or children serve as very bad passwords. Though a mix of upper and lower case letters with numbers and symbols can create a complex password, it might be difficult for you to recall. I strongly advise you to note the password in a safe place and refer to it if you ever forget. You should have no difficulty in remembering it when you've used it for a few times.

Coming back to the Google Account form, select your country of residence and enter the wavy text you see in the field with the small disability icon. Hit the "I accept. Create my account" button when done.

Newly created Google account isn't ready yet!

The process hasn't ended. Your newly created Google account is not yet ready for use. You need to activate it. When you successfully filled and submitted the new account form a message is automatically sent by Google to the email address you had specified. This message contains instructions for Google account activation. Check your email account; remember to also look in the spam and junk email folder because sometimes messages are caught by the spam filter and made to skip the inbox.
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Found the email? Good.
In it you'll see a link, the first link actually. Click on it to launch your default web browser. By the way, if nothing happens on clicking this link, copy-paste the same in the URL/address field of the web browser. You should now get an "Email address verified" message similar to what you see in the image below. You can now move on to managing your profile and using many of the Google services.

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