Fun with Google Search

robjones · Share | #1 (**permalink**) 02-09-2012, 12:41 PM

-1- Search Choices based on common searches
Unless you turned it off, when you start typing a search into Google... as you go it will give you choices based on what others have searched. Some of these are hilarious, others make you wonder how many people needed to search for this, or better... WHY? For example... I type Why is there a d.... and it offers the following pre-scripted alternatives:

Why is there a d....
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Call me a skeptic... but is that first one really a common problem for a lotta folks?

-2- Google Alternatives: "Did you mean...?"
Sometimes you'll notice Google offers you a different search on the results page, assuming you might have meant that instead of what you typed. I see that a lot when my fingers get ahead of the brain and spell something wrong... but it also is capable of providing alt searches based on contextual probabilities I suppose. The one shown below may or may not be apocryphal, but if it ever DID provide this result, it has long since been fixed.

White people stole my car
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Darn those racist search algorithms.
Here's another example of the same genre...

French Military Victories
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These are sometimes accidental, sometimes intentionally placed for humor or defamation...
the basis of the next category, the Google Bomb.

-3- Google Bombs: Results carefully placed by others
Basically a Google Bomb is an SEO slam... where a concerted effort results in a search for a certain word or term brings up a specific site or generates an alternative search result as in the "French Military Victories" example above. Example of past google bombs include a period where typing "Liar" into Google brought up the site for UK PM Tony Blair.

Liar
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Having hit France and England...
the site for US President George Bush was once a leading result for the term "failure".

Your samples?
Basically, just watch the stuff that comes up when you starts a search. We easily overlook them most of the time, but if you watch, some of them are darned funny.

Why does
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**snakeair** · #2 (**permalink**) 02-09-2012, 04:19 PM

lol @ the screenshots.

Type in: where is

suki888 · #3 (**permalink**) 02-09-2012, 05:38 PM

i like the first one "why is there a d.... google is so brilliant lol

Chris-Oranum · #4 (**permalink**) 02-10-2012, 06:44 AM

Thank you - this is perfect for a Friday

Anton Zaleski · #5 (**permalink**) 02-10-2012, 07:26 AM

Well-done!
BTW, I knew nothing of dead Pakistanis before that...appeared a quote from "Lost" or stuff like that

J from Michigan · #6 (**permalink**) 02-10-2012, 07:33 AM

What's really bad is, I instantly knew exactly where the first line came from...

It was from Lost, season 5 premier.

ayushgupta · #7 (**permalink**) 02-10-2012, 07:57 AM

rofl thanks man

Inspired Ink · #8 (**permalink**) 02-10-2012, 11:06 AM

Good one .. I get a laugh from it sometimes too. I wish I could remember some good ones. Most recently I think I typed in "where ..." and it came up "where are my #@&^%! keys???" and I had to laugh ... I had to wonder how many people just got frustrated, or did they REALLY expect google to "find" it for them?

Moore123 · #9 (**permalink**) 02-11-2012, 04:43 AM

I have noticed the same thing and it means that people search for all these things and it can be real fun to follow all the points.

Inspired Ink · #10 (**permalink**) 02-11-2012, 03:29 PM

A few weeks ago, can't remember what I was searching for, but I typed in "Why are ..." and the top two guesses were

Why are girls so stupid?
Why are guys so stupid?

Had to laugh. Kids are funny.