The site was down from 3:45 to 4 p.m. PST, Google spokesman David Krane told The Associated Press.
"It was not a hacking or a security issue," said Krane.
Krane said the problem was related to the DNS (Domain Name System), which translates domain names for computers.
"Google's global properties were unavailable for a short period of time," Krane said. "We've remedied the problem and access to Google has been restored worldwide."
Rumours that the site was hacked began when visitors were reportedly rerouted to SoGoSearch.com.
