Having Fun with "Google Suggest"

Posted by Minnesotastan in Blog & Internet on November 6, 2009 at 9:08 pm


How 2 vs how might oneThe “autofill” feature of the Google search box was designed as a timesaver, but the suggested searches can also be entertaining.  Writing in Slate, Michael Agger compared the autofill of “less intelligent” and “more intelligent” queries, an exercise that has previously been conducted at Digg.

The image above is a screencap of two Google searches conducted tonight using less- and more sophisticated search terms.

A corollary question would be “What searches are most commonly conducted at Neatorama?”  The Lijit search engine doesn’t have an autofill feature, but it does offer a list of the most popular recent searches at Neatorama, in descending order of frequency:

“world’s smallest,” mystery sale, halloween, what is it, disney, halloween costume, pumpkin, shop, stories, tattoo, cat, facebook, halloween costumes, pear, game, costume, movie trivia, photography, new species, zombie, bacon, lego, elena desserich, google, anvil cake, costumes, national day, notes left behind, origami, national geographic, videosift, wedding, what is it? game, 6 year old, albert einstein, brain, christmas, chum, hitler, logo, one take, pig, sex, animals, art, batman, brain shot, comic, einstein, shark.

Someone else may want to tackle the sociological implications of that list; I’m not going to touch it.

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COMMENT

13 comments to "Having Fun with "Google Suggest""

  1. Nadav
    November 6th, 2009 at 9:16 pm

    My favorite one to type in:

    "Is Lady Gaga"

    Let the autofill do the rest for you. It's hilarious.

  2. OhYes
    November 6th, 2009 at 9:29 pm

    I thought "why is it that" is pretty hilarious. It's all elementary until google busts out the peptide hormones.

  3. Reechard
    November 6th, 2009 at 9:36 pm

    My favorite google autocomplete has to be "i like "

    the first result is amazing

  4. Johnny Cat
    November 6th, 2009 at 9:40 pm

    I suspect the "How might one..." queries are being done mostly by college students trying to find intelligent-ish sources by saying that. Only people who are trying to sound smart say that phrase. Maybe I'm wrong, what do I know?

    The Lady Gaga one was hilarious, Nadav. :P

  5. pwscott
    November 6th, 2009 at 10:09 pm

    I personally hate auto fill. Drives nuts when I mispell something or want a simple search.

  6. Daz
    November 6th, 2009 at 10:51 pm

    "the most popular recent searches at Neatorama" list

    Perfect. I <3 them
    The sum up neatorama quietly and succinctly, while being hilarious

  7. Cle Serious
    November 6th, 2009 at 11:19 pm

    Typing "Do Midgets" has to be my favorite

  8. Justin
    November 6th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

    I never knew people came to neatorama to do a search on pig sex.

  9. ted
    November 7th, 2009 at 6:26 am

    Now I'm wondering things about Lady Gaga and midgets I never wondered before.

  10. debby
    November 7th, 2009 at 11:38 pm

    Wow this is Kool

  11. friday6
    November 8th, 2009 at 9:39 am

    I'm of the opinion that many of those with the "how might one" questions are simply copying the questions straight from their homework into Google.

  12. ByrdBrain
    November 9th, 2009 at 12:33 pm

    I hate the google "did you mean" suggestions. The answer is always "no, dammit"

  13. Johnny Cat
    November 12th, 2009 at 12:48 pm

    Just saw a new WTF one: Just type "Why won't" and behold the first suggestion.


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