Google has not only become the dominant company in Internet business, it’s also a household name and a force unto itself in the American economy. Not bad for a company that was launched just ten years ago.

Part of the secret behind the company’s success is its ability to innovate, combined with a spot-on sense of where to take the market it now leads. Recent years have seen it diversifying out of its powerhouse search engine comfort zone and into more elements of consumer technology, starting with applications related to SE technology, like mapping and shopping software. Lately, though Google’s announcements have been getting more and more ambitious, culminating most recently in its plans to dip its toes into the world of consumer cell phone technology.

Going hand-in-hand with this product innovation is Google’s growing presence as a sheer market force of nature. And again, the company knows how to play it smart: Like any company of enormous size and market share, it’s looking to the future not only in terms of what consumers like, but what the law will allow. That’s why, back in 2005, the company set up shop in Washington, D.C. to take a hand in lobbying.

The world is beginning to see some of the results of that effort. From today’s Los Angeles Times:

Google’s expanding lobbying operation scored two significant victories last year: It convinced federal regulators to approve its $3.1-billion purchase of online ad company DoubleClick Inc., and to partially open new wireless airwaves so the company could more easily make its products available on them.

Though D.C. veterans say Google has a long way to go before its lobbying clout matches its market valuation, the company is no longer viewed as a wide-eyed Washington freshman.

“This is a company that understands what they’ve got to do, and they’re in the process of doing it,” said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington think tank. “You can’t just get by on good looks.”

Google is making a major statement about its intention to be a player in the nation’s capital. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt today plans to christen Google’s new Washington offices: 27,000 square feet in one of the city’s trendiest new environmentally conscious buildings.

Lobbyists for the Mountain View, Calif., company will work at the site, which is complete with standard Google perks such as free gourmet lunches, a vibrating massage chair and a game room stocked with an Xbox 360 and pingpong and Foosball tables. It’s also a place to show off technology to policymakers on enough large plasma screens to fill a Circuit City showroom.

“We’re creating a little microcosm of Google in downtown D.C.,” said Alan Davidson, who heads the office as the company’s senior policy counsel. “We are here to stay and to have a positive presence in Washington.”

Of course, lobbying is becoming something of a frowned-upon enterprise here in America today, which may help to explain the company’s recent philanthropic efforts. At any rate, it’s safe to say that the company is taking the necessary steps to ensure its ten-year total market domination is not short-lived but the model for future growth. Will any ever out-Google Google? It’s hard to see that happening from where we stand now. But the future, as always, is unpredictable.