What Exactly Happens When You Do the Google (from my perspective)?

I could be entirely wrong but here goes:

When a user accesses Google, during the initial transfer between the site and your machine, a cookie is loaded through the browser (assuming cookies are enabled) onto your HDD. This cookie contains information about both your browsing habits, your machines settings and any unique settings you want the website to load when you access it.

After the initial transfer, you sit at the Google homepage. When you type in your search term and hit search, the phrase is run through a database that Google maintains and updates regularly (not sure exactly how regularly, but I'm guessing hourly). The phrase is cross-referenced with phrases in websites around the internet. When the phrase hits a match, the match is added to your list of search results. I'm assuming the most popular websites on the internet are searched first and most often, thus allow Google to provide those websites near the top of their list. After the list is completed (at an insane speed, the site will list the time taken to complete the search), it is displayed to the user, after which they can continue on.

Probably totally wrong, but that's my guess.