April Fools’ 2015 For the Search World: From Super Smart Google Panda To Backwards Google

In case your grade schooler hasn’t warned you – it’s April Fools’ Day and the online shenanigans are wide spread.

Matt Cutts and Google Maps were out of the gate early yesterday, with Cutts announcing his very own AutoSEO tool and Google Maps turning itself into one big Pac-Man video game.

Here are some search-related April Fools’ gags we have found so far:

Google Japan’s Panda Search Bear

No country is safe from Google’s April Fools’ jokes. This video from Google Japan’s blog features the company’s vice president of engineering Chris Yerga announcing Google Panda, a stuffed toy Panda bear that answers your search questions.

“Google Panda is so simple to use, that even people who don’t normally use devices won’t be able to stay away,” says Yerga.

Backwards Google

Google used its own Google+ page to roll out a backward Google search homepage.

“We’re always thinking about what’s ahead, but sometimes it’s important to look backwards,” claims Google. The post includes a link to https://com.google/ – a domain now made possible by new gTLDs – where everything is backwards from the logo to how search queries are entered.

Google Webmasters Robot Dance reCAPTCHA

The Google Webmasters Google+ profile added a new reCAPTCHA tool, letting users confirm they’re not a robot, but can dance like one.

SEO Expert Turns To Memes To Answer Google Webmaster Forum Questions

Webmaster trends analyst and SEO expert John Mueller is going full-on meme for April Fools’ Day, using images to answer questions in the Google Webmaster forum.

Bing Ads Goes Harry Potter

According to today’s Bing Ads blog post, search marketing is nothing more than a sport, played by “wizards” and “witches” of the SEM community.

Much like the famed Harry Potter Quidditch game, search marketing quidditch involves chasers, beaters, keepers and seekers, and includes a number of fouls like blatching, bumphing, stooging and quaffle-pocking.

“The game is played on, or rather over, the Bing Ads Quidditch pitch – an oval-shaped clearly marked space, which when played globally measures 13.7BN searches long and 577M unique users wide,” claims Bing.

#ImKenshooWhoAreYou

Software marketing provider Kenshoo may have topped Bing’s cuteness, offering free Infinity Suite lifetime licenses to any new parents who name their newborn “Kenshoo.”

According to the company’s April Fools’ news release, parents of twins named “Ken” and “Shoo” will be entitled to free babysitting from the company’s CEO.

“At Kenshoo we’re all about maximizing lifetime value so we figured there’s no better time to establish our brand than at birth!” said Kenshoo CEO Yoav Izhar-Prato.

Entries must include a copy of the baby’s birth certificate, along with a picture of the newborn wearing a Kenshoo branded onesie posted to no less than ten social media accounts. Be sure to include the hashtag #ImKenshooWhoAreYou.

Google’s New Head of Search Quality

Not to be left out of all the fun, Search Engine Land’s own Barry Schwartz has declared himself the new head of quality search for Google.

“Since I am already being blamed for the Google algorithmic updates, why not really be in a position to make those decisions?” asks Schwartz.

Matt Cutts Launches AutoSEO

And now, since Barry Schwartz is heading up search quality at Google, Matt Cutts can continue his sabbatical as Google’s head of spam to focus on his latest venture AutoSEO.

According to its website, AutoSEO can process your content and present it “…in a beautiful format that’s compliant with all major search engines and browsers.”

And don’t worry – it handles mobile too!