PITTSBURGH -- Google Inc., the online search company with more than 30 offices worldwide, has completed its local branch and hired about 30 software engineers.

An invitation-only open house was held on Friday at Google Pittsburgh, which will focus on text analysis and is located on the Carnegie Mellon University campus in Oakland.

The company will continue to hire workers to develop search tools in Pittsburgh, said Andrew Moore, a former CMU professor who heads the office.

"We're working on things that are really at the core of Google," he said. "We're very much a back-end office."

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Engineers at the facility so far have focused their efforts on refining the processing of search requests, improving Google.com's ability to predict what information might be useful to users, Moore said.

The center has already contributed to the selection and timing of advertisements that appear on Google's site.

Construction work on the 20,000-square-foot facility, which overlooks a tree-lined ravine and has large glass windows, was completed just in time for the open house.

The office contains many of the company's signature exercise balls in colors that match the Google logo. There are also yoga balls, beanbags, board games, a pool table, massages and video games.

Google spokeswoman Sunny Gettinger said the office has amenities available at other company locations, including snacks and drinks, a game room and a "tech talk" room that serves as a cafeteria.

"It's visually Googley," she said.

So far, the office has hired about 30 people, with the intent to create as many as 100 local high-tech jobs over the next few years.

For Google job opportunities, visit www.google.com/jobs.

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