It’s Over: Google Has Already Won April Fools Day 2011

It’s not even April 1st in Mountain View, but the April Fools Day comedy game is already over and I’m declaring Google the winner. Hiring autocompleters? YouTube 1911? Gmail Motion? Chromercise? Ding, ding, ding and ding. Game over. If you’re planning any big pranks tomorrow, skip it. Below, what’s out there now — and a […]

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It’s not even April 1st in Mountain View, but the April Fools Day comedy game is already over and I’m declaring Google the winner. Hiring autocompleters? YouTube 1911? Gmail Motion? Chromercise? Ding, ding, ding and ding. Game over. If you’re planning any big pranks tomorrow, skip it. Below, what’s out there now — and a running update of what else gets discovered as April Fools Day pranks related to search.

Google Hiring Autocompleters

If you search with Google Instant turned on, you’ll see a new link at the bottom of the search suggestions. Google is hiring Autocompleters.

google-hiring-autocompleters

That link leads to a job description with this video introducing “Michael Taylor,” who started out as a spellchecker who typed the “Did you mean?” suggestions and then got a promotion to Autocompleter.

Gmail Motion

Even better is the video for Gmail Motion, a link that shows up on the Gmail login page.

Chromercise

Then there’s the Richard Simmons-esque video for Chromercise, an exercise program that helps your fingers keep up with Chrome’s speed. And yes, there’s a form to “order” a set of those dorky finger sweatbands. (I have no idea if the form is real; probably not, but I did give my name and address. In the name of journalism, of course. The things I do for our readers.)

YouTube 1911

YouTube pretending to be 100 years old with a guest blog post from President Taft and a recap of the Top 5 Viral Videos of 1911.

Google Goes Comic Sans

Google “announces” that it will shift to the Comic Sans font across all web properties on April 4th — and for searches on “Comic Sans” and “Helvetica,” it actually happens. See our separate article: For April Fools, Google Goes Comic Sans & Ousts Helvetica.

“Old School” AdWords Formats

Announced are “new” old-school display ad formats like “Punch the monkey” and “Click here for smileys.”

Google UK’s “Translate For Animals”

Some are noticing that Google UK got its April Fool’s mojo on with Google Translate for Animals, an Android app (not really, duh) that tells you what your pets/animals said in human language. That’s actually from last year.

Flickr Logo with an E:

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CuttsCon Is Back!

The celebration of AllThingsMatt returns for a a second show:

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Details over here.

Google China Teleport Search

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Details over here.

Earkut (Orkut)

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Details over here.

Google Voice-alyzer

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Pink Elephant & Yellow Whale on Google Maps

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Details here and here. Official details over here.

Google Docs Motion Commands

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Details over here.

Google Help Rolling Heads

 

Details over here.

Google Body Browser: Now A Cow

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Details over here.

Google Blimp Ads

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Details over here.

Google Bambo Update

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Details over here.

Foursquare No Points For You

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Search Engine Roundtable Now Search Engine Land

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Details over here.

Matt Cutts working as Ask Jeeves

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Details over here.

Chrome Lite

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Details over here.

Wolfram Alpha As Bieber Alpha

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Details over here.

The Search Specialists Movie

The Search Specialists

Details over here.

LinkedIn People You May Know

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Google Pig Latin Voice Search

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg7Wayo1rLU[/youtube]

Details over here.

Google Meow Me Now (find missing kittens)

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Details over here.

Google Analytics Gift Cards

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Details over here.

Google I/O Conference Agenda

Even the upcoming Google I/O Conference is in on the fun, posting a joke agenda with sessions about HTML 3, building server farms with legos and more.

Google Bans Google Places

From TechCrunch, a funny send-up on how Google is banning its own Google Places pages as content farm spam: Google Inadvertently Classifies Google Places As A “Content Farm” And Removes From Search Index, plus a follow-up post: Richard Rosenblatt: Seriously, Leave My Yacht Out Of This. There’s also a solution to that yacht problem: How To Leave Your Yacht Out Of A TechCrunch Story.

More April Fools!

Looking for more pranks? See our other breakout posts on April Fools pranks from this year and our posts from past years:


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Matt McGee
Contributor
Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.

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