For April Fools, Google Goes Comic Sans & Ousts Helvetica

Don’t tell Google that Comic Sans is dead. The company has announced it’s coming back for all products, at least for April Fools Day.

The April Fools joke begins with a page explaining that Google has conducted research into various fonts and found through eye tracking that Comic Sans beats other fonts:

Comic Sans For Everyone!

More fun comes in the form of an extension from Google for its Google Chrome browser. Install Comic Sans For Everyone, and all your search results will appear with that font:

But it’s not just search results that change. Any site you go to will be Comic Sansified. Here’s the Search Engine Land home page:

Comic Sans, Automagically

Don’t want to install the extension? Comic Sans might take over your search results anyway. Search for comic sans, and you’ll get results in that font, no extension needed:

Looks like the “Ban Comic Sans” site listed in those results picked the wrong week for Google to be reporting it has malware:

No fooling, they should read our article to solve this, Google Explains Malware Warning Policy & How To Fix Your Site.

Take That, Helvetica

Finally, perhaps the best part of all this. Search for helvetica, and that will turn your results into Comic Sans on Google, automatically:

If you don’t see this happening automatically, try closing your browser and restarting. Still no luck? Try another browser, or try visiting a different Google service, like Google UK. I couldn’t get it to work originally for me until I did a browser restart.

Seriously, Why Do We Hate Comic Sans?

By the way, if you’re curious why people seem to hate Comic Sans so much, here’s a funny and enlightening five minute video from Mykl Roventine on the topic

But wait, there’s more. Here’s another short video on the topic, from David Kadavy (who also wrote a good article on the topic, Why You Hate Comic Sans):

Fool Me More!

For other April Fools pranks today from Google and around the search world, see our post below:

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

About The Author

Danny Sullivan

Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, MarTech Today and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.