Johan
02-05-2002, 05:04 AM
'Googlewhacking' is a new competitive sport that tests both your searching skills and your mastery of language -- and it's catching on like wildfire!
Google's index of web pages is generally regarded as the largest of all the major search engines. This means that for most searches, it's not uncommon for Google to report millions or even tens of millions of pages containing your search terms.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, however, there are combinations of keywords that return only one single result on Google. Web entrepreneur, online commentator and gadfly Gary Stock is obsessed with finding these combinations. So much so that he's created a game, complete with rules, that he calls "Googlewhacking."
In essence, Googlewhacking is simple. Simply try to find those elusive combinations of search terms that are so rare they return a single result on Google. According to Stock, "The sweetest words ever returned are 'Results 1 - 1 of 1.'
For example:
"microsoft crenelation"
"orchestrator bamboozling"
"metronome dewpoint"
"plectrum irradiation"
Stock lays out the rules for keeping score: One point for a pure googlewhack, meaning a single result for your query; one point if you learn something; and a bonus point if you "laugh even more" at the results. The irony of Googlewhacking, however, is that success actually breeds failure, so to speak, for when you find a whack and report it online, that page will soon be crawled by Google and the Googlewhack will lose its uniqueness
Google's index of web pages is generally regarded as the largest of all the major search engines. This means that for most searches, it's not uncommon for Google to report millions or even tens of millions of pages containing your search terms.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, however, there are combinations of keywords that return only one single result on Google. Web entrepreneur, online commentator and gadfly Gary Stock is obsessed with finding these combinations. So much so that he's created a game, complete with rules, that he calls "Googlewhacking."
In essence, Googlewhacking is simple. Simply try to find those elusive combinations of search terms that are so rare they return a single result on Google. According to Stock, "The sweetest words ever returned are 'Results 1 - 1 of 1.'
For example:
"microsoft crenelation"
"orchestrator bamboozling"
"metronome dewpoint"
"plectrum irradiation"
Stock lays out the rules for keeping score: One point for a pure googlewhack, meaning a single result for your query; one point if you learn something; and a bonus point if you "laugh even more" at the results. The irony of Googlewhacking, however, is that success actually breeds failure, so to speak, for when you find a whack and report it online, that page will soon be crawled by Google and the Googlewhack will lose its uniqueness