The Google Press Center Zeitgeist showcases the most popular search terms… but there seems to be something missing from the list. Now I might be mistaken, but I think it is pretty safe to assume that there are a lot of people out there using Google to find pornography. I remember I read a website that reported 40% of all searches on Google were for adult websites (unfortunately, I cannot seem to find that page again). I would have thought at least one or two of the top Google terms would have been something adult-esque.
Now don’t get me wrong. I honestly do not care if the top search term is sex or not. I do, however, care if companies are providing misinformation. I guess I have two questions.
- Are the figures presnted to us on the Google Zeitgeist accurate?
- If not, why is Google censoring / lying to us?
I’m interested to hear what you think. Am I completely off my rocker, or is there something missing from Google’s reports?
3 comments ↓
Here’s a post where a Googler addresses this issue:
http://blogs.business2.com/beta/2006/12/how_google_find.html
Basic idea is that Zeitgeist measures changes in search frequency rather than overall query occurrences and that pornography searches hover at a constant (no doubt high) frequency. Would guess there is censorship when needed though.
Decide for yourself by testing queries in Google Trends:
http://www.google.com/trends
The point of the Google Zeitgeist is to give us a sense of what people are looking for. Now, we all know that everyone is looking for sex. All. The. Time. It’s a given. If Google integrated sex into their results, it would overshadow everything that human beings are looking for when we’re not looking for sex.
Maybe Google should have a little disclaimer in there somewhere…
I am always one to support a little disclaimer!
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