Weird Google Thing--Tell Me How Google Does This

[Christine]

Someone just sent me an e-mail and told me to go to google and do a search using the words "miserable failure" and then hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky" tab.

Do this and see what comes up. I'm sure you can guess what comes up.

My question is: how does it come up? Did google "fix" it to have that happen or is it text, pure and simple. Seems very odd.

 

[rnd4life]

I don't know how or why it comes up but that is HYSTERICAL!!! Can't wait to show DH, he'll love it.

 

[Christine]

It is funny but, honestly, I don't mean to "stir the pot" with this post. I REALLY want to know how google does it?

 

[hugsquared]

From BBC News: Web users entering the words "miserable failure" into the popular search engine are directed to the biography of the president on the White House website.

The trick is possible because Google searches more than just the contents of web pages - it also counts how often a site is linked to, and with what words.

Thus, members of an online community can affect the results of Google searches - called "Google bombing" - by linking their sites to a chosen one.

Weblogger Adam Mathes is credited with inventing the practice in 2001, when he used it to link the phrase "talentless hack" to a friend's website.

The search engine can be manipulated by a fairly small group of users, one report suggested.


Prank website
Newsday newspaper says as few as 32 web pages with the words "miserable failure" link to the Bush biography.

The Bush administration has been on the receiving end of pointed Google bombs before.

In the run-up to the Iraq war, internet users manipulated Google so the phrase "weapons of mass destruction" led to a joke page saying "These Weapons of Mass Destruction cannot be displayed."

The site suggests "clicking the regime change button", or "If you are George Bush and typed the country's name in the address bar, make sure that it is spelled correctly (IRAQ)".

 

[Ted and Holly]

Someone just sent me an e-mail and told me to go to google and do a search using the words "miserable failure" and then hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky" tab.

Do this and see what comes up. I'm sure you can guess what comes up.

My question is: how does it come up? Did google "fix" it to have that happen or is it text, pure and simple. Seems very odd.

Things like this are often called "Easter Eggs". It is basically a hidden "egg" that comes up when you enter the "secret" code. Iin this case, when the Google search engine sees those words and then the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button gis pushed, it is programmed to bring up that page.

Ted

 

[Ted and Holly]

Things like this are often called "Easter Eggs". It is basically a hidden "egg" that comes up when you enter the "secret" code. Iin this case, when the Google search engine sees those words and then the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button gis pushed, it is programmed to bring up that page.

Ted

Ah! "Google Bombing" I learned a new one. I did not think Google would be so blatantly political...

Ted

 

[ShuisFan584]

Um, that's not funny.

 

[cats7494]

Um, that's not funny.

I find it to be hilarious!

 

[stinkerbelle]

omg - I always thought it was a really bored programmer at Google. hehehe

 

[mainewmn]

Google has been doing things like this for a LONG time now.

I havent seen this one yet tough, thanks for the laugh.

 

[palmtreegirl]

 

[oogieboogie]

Ah! "Google Bombing" I learned a new one. I did not think Google would be so blatantly political...

Ted

Google isn't political. The webpage creator is. Google's engines just search on the number of hits a page has, so the more hits a page gets, the higher the ranking on Google's hit list that page becomes.

Say you type disboards, Google will search for any webpage that mentions the word disboards, and then it counts how many times that page has been accessed. So if 1 person visits disboards it'll be on the bottom, but if 20000 people visits disboards then that page will go to the very top of the search results.

 

[Christine]

Um, that's not funny.

Well, I suppose that depends on what side of the fence you're sitting on!

 

[Ted and Holly]

Google isn't political. The webpage creator is. Google's engines just search on the number of hits a page has, so the more hits a page gets, the higher the ranking on Google's hit list that page becomes.

Say you type disboards, Google will search for any webpage that mentions the word disboards, and then it counts how many times that page has been accessed. So if 1 person visits disboards it'll be on the bottom, but if 20000 people visits disboards then that page will go to the very top of the search results.

Umm, that is what I said. It was a "Google Bombing", not an "Easter Egg". The difference is, that Google did not do it themselves. Thus as I said in my post "I did not think that Google would be so blatanctly political" I was right.

I am well aware of how search engines work.

Ted

 

[oogieboogie]

oops... I thought you were stating that you knew Google was political but didn't think they would be blatant about it.

wrong interpretation of your sentence. Apologies...

 

[Galahad]

There was actually an "easter egg" in a previous version of the spell checker for MS Word about 10 years ago that came up with "Bill Clinton" when you typed in something equally insulting (thankfully I can't remember what it was).

 

[tar heel]

I first did the "miserable failure" thing on google a couple years ago. What I don't know is whether those words have yielded the same webpage all this time.

 

[mickman1962]

What's really funny is the second hit on the Google search for "miserable failure" is Michael Moore's web site.