I was playing around with the autocomplete function on the Google home page search box, also known as Google Suggest. I noticed if you started typing in a very vague query, it was really interesting — almost wild — what it would try to guess about what you were searching for.
In a nutshell, this is what Google says about Suggest:
When providing suggestions, Google Suggest doesn’t refer to anyone’s personal searches; it uses information about the relative popularity of common searches to rank its suggestions.
http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=106230
Okay, so we all get it. You’ve probably seen it before.
So how does that mean Google Suggest knows anything about us? Well, if we as a whole ask Google something frequently, it’s probably something very common. Some of these were shocking, some interesting and some really, really funny!
Without further ado, ten things Google knows about us:
What we want to do...
We’re obsessed with size and money...
We want to know the consequences...
We’re always looking to the future...
We’re always looking around the next bend...
We want to know the causes of important things...
We demand to know the nature of things...
We’re optimistic about the future...
It’s obviously not Father’s Day...
Mom is funny...
Comments
Brilliant, simple, clean, and makes a very clear point that what we’re searching for on Google reflects more accurately than we think about what’s on our minds. +1.
by Abraham Lloyd on April 16, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Holy crap, that is so funny! I am often shocked at what is suggested.
by SEO Aware on April 17, 2009 at 3:01 pm
I find it disturbing that we seem to be most obsessed with poop and babies, and that nobody wants to make his penis bigger.
by Emily on April 17, 2009 at 4:36 pm
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What a great idea. Like it so much. The numbers make it more crazy!
by RUTISO on April 17, 2009 at 2:42 am