I applied online, with just a CV and no cover letter (and I hate cover letters, so I was thrilled).
A recruiter called me back and after some quick questions to check my background and motivation, he took the time to describe the interview process, the criteria I would be judged on and sent me some links to prepare my interview (mostly about Google products, it's pages you can find yourself browsing their career website).
I had two phone interviews of 30 min, with questions on my experiences, behavioral questions and some to test my quantitative skills.
After this, it went quite quickly and the recruiter always informed me of where the discussion was.