It is well known that there are two things in life that are certain: death and taxes. People who work in SEO enjoy the privilege of adding two extra certainties to existence: the algorithm change during the summer and that Google is going to do everything it can to bargain us more and more organic clicks.
In the end, there is a logic to it, considering the circumstances. If there are two things that are certain in life, they are that Google wants its users to have the best search experience and that if you can’t get organic results, it’s easier to go through the checkout and pay for SEM.
Google’s ways of preventing users from getting to the content they feed on come in all shapes and sizes. From putting up a barbed wire fence of snippets like someone mining a border to sowing the search box with “Frequently Asked Questions” behind each one of which there is a result rich enough to answer the most curious questions.
But well, there’s no use getting bitter either, so instead, and following the easter egg that Google has dedicated to the Dart, we’re going to compile some of the best easter eggs that Google has left us.
The one with Dart
Maybe the day will come when Dart’s experiment will save the Earth from something horrible (if you are not aware of Dart’s experiment you have several ways to find out about it). In the meantime, Dart has at least served to prove that there are some very, very smart people (the kind of smart people who spend their days reading papers and sharing brainy data about the expansion of the universe), who at the same time are able to enjoy puns like “They’ve gone to Dart”.
If your Twitter feed is properly calibrated you will have had an embarrassingly funny week.
Dart has also been used by Google to draw us a SERP in which the search for “dart” returns the corresponding results, but after a couple of seconds the satellite in question appears to give a precise tap and, precisely, leave the whole screen tilted, thus reducing the risk of collision with the planet.
This is basically a variation on a classic Google easter egg. If you type – if you type – “Askew” into the search engine, the result is a tilted screen. So Google teaches us a valuable lesson: Just because you have all the money in the world doesn’t mean you shouldn’t recycle.
The one of the final answer
This one is a bit for freaks and more for Anglo-Saxon freaks, that tribe for whom the writer Douglas Adams is one of their guiding spirits and his book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy a gospel. The book, by the way, is very good. There’s also a film out there, but it doesn’t quite achieve the delicate balance between geekiness and irony of the novel. In any case, there are two elements that every geek associates with the book: the possession of a towel (so important that it is part of the “geek culture day” props) and the answer to the question about life, the universe and everything. In the book, after a long deliberation, the ultimate computer answers that the answer to life, the universe and everything is “42” and of course, Google doesn’t want to be any less and answers in the same way. Of course, you have to ask it in English
The one with “Friends”
Each of the main characters on Friends has their own hidden joke. We’re not going to explain each one because it’s funnier to discover them, but clearly the two best ones are Ross and (of course) Joey.
The one back from everything
This is another classic. If you search for “Do a barrel roll” Google rotates the entire screen before returning results.
The one of the blink
This is another classic, although not one of the most spectacular, it is sure to please the nostalgic. Legend has it that there was a time when html allowed a tag called “blink” that made the text blink. At that time the Internet was like when you first installed photoshop: everything was pirated and if there was a new tool you had to use it. Always. At home. So the pages were full of flashing colours. In those years the Internet was like teletext and if you wanted to use a good, good browser you went to Lycos.
Google keeps that fire alive with an easter egg in which, if you do the search it returns a blinking result.
The one that matters
Maybe reading this post it seems that I have a grudge against Google, when I don’t. On the contrary. On the contrary. We have our differences, but I think that everything around Google is quite impressive. Not only the search engine itself, but also having been able to create products like Maps (as I’m old enough I remember the first time I heard they had a project to “photograph the planet”) or what they are doing in the field of AI.
In addition, Google, from time to time, remembers that it also has its own little heart and conscience. Not that this is a major detail, but, if you search for “Gay pride” Google allows you to do a little parade on your computer.
The one with O’rey
Until this week, it seemed that Pelé had been a little out of the running for the best player in history. What can we do about it? We live in the age of Messi, the vindication of Cristiano and the nostalgia of Maradona. But Google still remembers the years when O rei was the best and, for now, he is also the only one for whom, when you search for him, Google sings goal.
The one that we don’t want or need
Because this one is a bit poor, but it still has its fans. What we say about the easter, I think it can be said about all the Batman films. Yes, all of them. We’re here to play. Have you seen The Dark Knight lately? If you take out the Joker moments, what’s left? Well, that’s it. Pretty lame, but it has its fans. Google is a fine line.
The easter is activated if you search for “Batman”, “Gotham City” or “Bruce Wayne“. One more trick. If you google “My mother’s name was also Martha” nothing comes up. As it should be.
