Googling Google On Google: Why Do People Do It? (POLL)

Have you ever Googled Google on Google? It's more common than you might think.

This strange search trend is becoming more and more popular over time, as evidenced from the graph below. Google users Googling Google on Google seems to most happen when Google is in the news, which makes sense.

Most recently, the release of Google executive Wael Ghonim in Egypt led to a spike in Google searches for "Google."

GRAPH: Google search volume for the term "Google" via Google Insights

The interesting thing about Googling Google is it requires some effort. When you type the letter "g" in Google, Google suggests "gmail" first, followed by "google maps," "google.com," and "google translate." Even when you type "Google," those top three suggests stay the same, followed by "google earth," and finally "google."

So why do people do it besides the news? Well, for one, maybe they're trying to have some fun. Maybe they just want to see what results would come up. Or, maybe, they've heard the rumor that Googling Google breaks the Internet.

Seriously. If you check forums, such as Yahoo Answers, questions are asked based on the rumor like this one: "Is it true you can break the Internet by googling google?" The top answer encourages the questioner to try Googling Google, and then adds, "However, I heard that if you yahoo yahoo, you'll die in 7 days."

But the best answer to the question is on WikiAnswers. In response to "Will Googling Google really break the Internet," someone says the following:

No. In fact, I google google using google a googol amount of times every day and I get results about other people googling google while using google and when im done googling with google I google on google maps to find googols of maps about google and then I google google videos of google which demonstrate google and how to google it and when Im finally done I google with google while I blog about having googled using google and if you google a googol amount of times you will find this blog about me googling about google using google to illustrate how my daily life of googling works.

Another possibility for the trend: in some Web browsers, like Firefox and Safari, some accidentally Google Google in a search bar at the top simply because they are trying to access the Google website. The same may be true for some mobile browsers.

These are some reasons people might Google Google. Let us know in the comments if you have your own theories and we'll add some of the best ones to this post. And make sure you take our poll below!

Quick Poll

Have you ever Googled Google on Google?

Yes, who hasn't?

No, but going to try it now!

No and never will

Can't remember

Share your vote on Facebook so your friends can take this poll

Oh, and what comes up when you Google Google? Naturally, Google is the first result (surprise, surprise). Google Images, Google Maps and Google Video come next, followed by the Google Wikipedia page.

RELATED: If you're bored you may want to try Googling Google on GoogleGoogleGoogleGoogle.

Comments

[Valentina Benivegna]

04:55 AM on 02/20/2011

Because the IT Crowd spread the rumor!!
http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Break-the-Internet-11022

[VirgoLinnea]

10:14 PM on 02/19/2011

You get the same result by googling Google as by dividing by zero.

[Medude24]

03:37 PM on 02/19/2011

This sets the record for most pointless HP ever, and that's saying a lot.

Writers, deadlines, paychecks, and all of that...

[black series]

12:52 PM on 02/19/2011

I google google to go to the google homepage.

[Michael Mouton]

07:34 PM on 02/18/2011

Every time you google Google you fabric of space and time there is a tiny tear in the space-time continuum.

[ValdaDeDieu]

02:10 PM on 02/18/2011

I google Google whenever they've a great variation of their logo, such as Jules Verne's 20,000 leagues under the sea (recently) or Einstein's birthday or something. Just to encourage them to keep being whimsical; no one wants a boring "corporate" internet.

[Emily O]

09:14 AM on 02/18/2011

I've searched for Wikipedia in Wikipedia, Google on Google, and Facebook on Facebook. Sometimes my mind is so intent on getting somewhere that I forget I'm already there. Alas.

[spagma]

07:59 AM on 02/18/2011

Googling Google on Google, is redundant.

[MTGradwell]

07:23 AM on 02/18/2011

It's quite simple. First you use Google just as a search engine. Then you discover Gmail, and Google Maps, and Google Earth. You discover that Youtube is now owned by Google. Maybe you get an Android phone, and who can't know that Android is a Google OS?

So you come to the conclusion "if Google has all these things that I find really useful, how many other things do they have that might make life easier for me if only I knew about them? So you Google Google, and you find out about Google Translate, and Google Books, and Google Goggles, and Google Code, and Google Scholar, and hundreds of other things. After that, you Google Google on a regular basis to try to find out what new things might have been added, or to remind yourself of features that you might have forgotten.

That's apart from all the people who Google Google from a search box just as a quick way of getting to their home page, or who think it will break teh internets, or who are responding to a news item.

In other words, there's nothing strange about this "strange search trend".

[Mr Crabs]

03:44 AM on 02/18/2011

Instead of googling google on google how about googling google on Bing? Same thing right?

[Zigman61]

08:10 AM on 02/18/2011

Yes. Or use Firefox or Dogpile. There are other search engines out there. My home page is Yahoo so I use it to search sometimes too. Don't always "google". Found out about Google Earth from a person, not googling on google.........my gosh that sounds so redundant.

[Mr Crabs]

09:54 AM on 02/18/2011

Know what I mean is because Bing basically steals results and even spelling corrections from google, Microsoft wanted to claim it's search was wholly it's own but got trapped by a google sting operation that it simply copies results from google.

[zorro869]

03:02 AM on 02/18/2011

I'm not lying: I had just googled google in goolge, and thought to myself how funny that was- the next thing I know I find this article.

Thats one in a Googol if you ask me.

[CenaW]

01:09 AM on 02/18/2011

Alert:
The Google boys are now part of the K0ch gang of ultra conservative fa. sc. ists.

[Littleitalianman]

11:31 PM on 02/17/2011

I bet they don't spend a penny on SEO.... LOL

[Kazuto Nakamura]

08:39 PM on 02/17/2011

using google chrome, we can google using address bar, but some people may want to use google interface, so they googling google in this case.

[JBCX88]

07:38 PM on 02/17/2011

I think the most obvious reason is listed at the end of the article. I use Firefox and have a Google search bar on the top right of my screen, but on some searches I need the main page...so I Google Google.

Does anyone even use IE anymore?

[DharmaRecruit]

07:11 AM on 02/18/2011

Yep, I'm a web/software developer who uses IE proudly. IE8 was good but IE9's even better.

[spagma]

08:01 AM on 02/18/2011

Tried the beta for ie9, hated it, tried chrome, hated it, switched to firefox, am happy now.