tar -cvzf filename.tar.gz directory_to_compress/
Most tar commands have a z option to create a gziped version.
Though seems to me the question is how to circumvent Google. I’m not sure if renaming your output file would fool Google, but you could try. I.e.,
tar -cvzf filename.bla directory_to_compress/
and then send the filename.bla – contents will would be a zipped tar, so at the other end it could be retrieved as usual.