In 2015, Google changed its name and became a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., and the Google stock was split into 3 main classes (Class A - Class B - Class C), which was a distinguishing move by the company.

Alphabet Inc. became a group for the services offered by the company, such as the Google search engine, YouTube, Android operating system, Google Maps, Google Play Store, and many other services offered by this group. The Google stock split was intended to yield a bigger control for the company over its shares, with classes A & C being publicly traded, while class B was internally traded among the company’s top management.

Google, or rather Alphabet Inc. (we will be using the two names interchangeably in this article), is a publicly-traded company that allows investors to hold a huge amount of shares but does not grant them as much control over the company, as the different stock classes hold different voting rights.

Therefore, if you are looking to buy stock in Google, you have the options of class A & C, and the following steps will show you how to purchase your first stock in Alphabet Inc.

• Search for the right broker
• Register your trading account
• Add money to your trading account
• Purchase stocks in Google
• Keep your eyes on your stock price (you can use our guide on how to create a stock portfolio in Excel for this)

Firstly, you need someone to give you access to the stock exchange market where you can invest in Google stock. A simple search for the best broker will show you dozens of financial brokers, but that does not mean that you can trust all the brokers that you find on Google Search. That’s because there is a massive number of good and fraudulent brokers on the internet nowadays all jumbled together, and you might need to be pretty careful while choosing from among them. 

There are some criteria that you can look for in a specific company to consider it reliable. These qualities include operating licenses, availability of markets, diversity of payment methods, and that your country of residence is allowed to trade through them.

There are many licenses that regulate brokers’ activities, such as the FCA, CySEC, FSCA, and SEC licenses. These are considered top-tier licenses, which strictly oversee the behavior of brokers. However, other licenses originating from offshore locations can be risky, because they do not offer much protection for investors, and have relaxed regulations that brokers enjoy, leaving a possible gap for sketchy activities.

After that, you need to make sure stock trading is available on their platform since that is what you need to do to buy Google stock. You can check that from the products and markets on offer by the broker. Some brokers impose limitations on traders from some countries, and you need to ensure that your country of citizenship is not on the banned-countries list.

Alternatively, you can find a reputable broker from the below list. These are some of the top online brokers that can help you start buying shares in Google.

Once you have found a suitable broker, you will need to open a trading account that allows stock trading through the broker's website, where you can deposit money and start trading. Signing up with the broker is a simple process that takes just a few minutes. You will start by having to enter your name, email address, phone number, and country of residence.

After that, you will either receive a verification link in your email or a verification code on your mobile phone that you will have to insert at the end of the registration process.

In addition, reliable brokers usually ask you for further verification documentation, which is nothing to worry about. You might be asked to submit proof of identity and address, which is intended to keep the broker’s website clear from any criminal and blacklisted individuals.

This verification usually takes a few minutes, but can take up to 24 hours, depending on the broker. Once done, you can start investing in Google or any other company that they offer. But first, it is time to deposit some money into your new trading account.

The best brokers offer several ways to fund your trading account; they vary between credit/debit cards, wire transfers, e-wallets, crypto-wallets, and other local online banking options.

When considering your payment method, you need to check if the broker charges any commission on deposits, and the processing time for each payment method offered on the broker’s website.

Credit or debit cards are the most commonly used method since it is the most convenient and easy, and from the broker’s side, it is usually instant and free from any commission. However, in some countries due to their banking systems, it might take a longer processing time, and e-wallets might become a better option to buy Google stocks online, offering a faster processing time.

But if you are looking for the safest way to get your money deposited, wire transfers can be considered as the safest way since it is a bank-bank transfer, and you do not provide your personal information to any 3rd parties.

Once you have chosen your preferred method, check the minimum deposit allowed by the broker. Most brokers tend to have at least $200 minimum deposits allowed. However, keep in mind that since you are going to buy Google shares, the share price is going to be more than that.

The money that you have deposited into your trading account will be your investment capital. Now that you have the capital and the platform, you are going to decide which Google stock to buy, and how many shares to purchase.

As we have discussed earlier, Google stock is divided into different classes, and you can trade in either class a or class c because class B is privately owned by executives. The difference between class A and class C is all about voting right. Shareholders of class A hold 1 vote, while class C shareholders have no voting rights.

These two stocks in Google have different prices as well, but it is very tiny, and Alphabet promises to compensate class C shareholders if the price drops more than 1% below class A.

Class C of Google stock is mostly used by retail traders, since this stock is more affordable, and has lower fees in the short term. That can justify the fluctuation in the class C stock price when the demand for this stock increases.

If you are aiming for short-term gains, you can go ahead and select the number of shares that you want to buy from class C which is denoted as GOOG in the stock exchange, and open your position in the market.

Alternatively, if you want to wait because the current stock trend is not desirable, you can either leave your money in your trading account and trade at a later stage or choose a “buy option” where the trading software will automatically open your trading position when the stock hits a specific price.

After buying Google shares, you still have some work to do. Actually, this is the most important work. Regardless of how long you are planning to hold the stock, you need to keep track of every bit of financial and technological news that might have an impact on Alphabet's stock price.

Google's stock can be affected by many global events, news reports, and statements released by the company, it can drag the stock price down, or shoot it to the moon.

A great example of this can be seen when looking at Covid-19 restrictions. As people were locked at home, spending more time on the internet, and looking up more things using Google's search engine, the stock price performed fairly well while most other companies around the world saw their stock prices plummet.

In addition to that, many companies spent more time and money on their online marketing campaigns, and organizations used Google's platforms for conducting video conferences, distance learning, and online lectures in universities.

Thus, Google stock grew in 2020 by 66%, and the stock price kept on increasing until the 3rd quarter of 2021.

These price movements and your response to that change will define how profitable your investment in Google is, and any piece of news you miss can make you lose money without prior notice.

Thus, you need to be aware of trading terminologies and indicators that help you in your investment, to limit the amount you are willing to lose, and when to exit the market once you have made some reasonable profit.

A stop-loss order is placed in agreement with the broker, where you decide on a price below the entry price, which represents the maximum loss that you can incur. On the other hand, the take-profit order works vice-versa, it depicts the amount of money you are ok to take, thus closing out your position if that price is reached.

Ideally, when the stock price reaches any of these two limits, the trading software will automatically close your trading position, and sell your position, reaping any loss/profit your position had.

Google's stock has proved that it might be a good investment in the long term, but right now it is hard to say. 2022 has been a difficult year for many industries and most especially tech. Just between October 2021 and August 2022, Alphabet's stock price dropped by over 35%.

Given the technological advancements that the world is witnessing led by tech giants like Google, Apple, and Meta, we believe that there might be some value still coming out of the Google camp in the future.

The Google search engine still takes the lion's share of 80+ percent in the search engine market. In addition, in cloud storage, the Google cloud platform ranks among the top 3 cloud storage systems in the world. Are these things enough to buffer it against a looming recession, who knows?

Google split its stock three times, the first time in 2014 when it created three stock classes, the second split took place in 2015 which witnessed the foundation of Alphabet Inc., and the third was in 2022.

Investors have the freedom to choose which Google stock to buy. It all depends on the trader’s strategy and aims. Thus, class A is for long-term investors, while class C is for short-term investors.

As all markets are currently down, it might be a good time to through your hat in the ring and pick up some stock. It would be wiser though to wait a while and see how things go over the next year before jumping in the deep end and realizing that the bottom is nowhere near.