Legless Chihuahuas Prove Google Hot Trends Not So Hot
Duncan Riley
19 comments »
Google has launched a new addition to its growing lineup of…well everything, Google Hot Trends.
Google Trends takes the idea behind Google Zeitgeist to the next level. Instead of providing weekly details of top Google searches, Google Hot Trends provides similar data daily and goes as far as providing “hot” search results via state, city and country.
The data though isn’t top search results. According to Search Engine Land the data shows “hot trends” as the services name would the suggest. The hottest queries for the day are calculated by a “sophisticated algorithm” that takes in factors such as a sudden rise in a query phrase over previous periods.
Anything that is solely reliant on computer calculations is bound to have hiccups. In the case of Hot Trends for May 21 (US) those hiccups included “legless chihuahuas” at 25, but not forgetting that you may only be interested in one legless dog, “legless chihuahua” is at 36; the ultimate handbag accessory perhaps? Pretzel syndrome (33) might be cured by using a nose bidet (7) however “what did lawyer ellis rubin suggest prison inmates could donate in exchange for reduction in their sentences in 1992″ (26) may provide a hidden answer. Tasmania Tigers (45) may not get pigeon breast disease (43) but cicadas (23) are prone to issues.
It’s very early days for Hot Trends. It’s easy to have fun with it, however any new Google release, like wine, is sure to improve with age.
Dont forget this product is still in labs. Its good to see Google has the balls to put their early work out their for the world to see and comment on instead of hiding it away until its actually ready
There’s Google “Re Bang” in China, which means Google Hot Lists:
http://www.google.cn/rebang
It’s great that you can search past data - you can see what news, gossip, events defined that day in history. I think you can search back to the 15th May at the moment.
I agree that this tool is sure to improve and develop as time goes by, and I expect to see more tools of this nature from Google in the future!
I don’t know — if you drill down, some of these make sense.
Take nose bidet. Look at the page about it, and you’ll see a result like this:
“An audience member at the Oprah show knew what it was and she said it is a neti pot or a nose bidet. She told Oprah that she used to use one when she had.”
Ah — so Oprah talked about nose bidets, then there’s a spike in search results for it. That makes sense.
Legless Chihuahuas? Again, look at the page for that, and you’ll see:
“Legless Chihuahuas Need Home
PORT WASHINGTON, NY — An animal shelter in New York is looking for a home for three Chihuahua puppies born without front legs.”
I’d guess lots of people saw that report and started Googling.
Now “what did lawyer ellis rubin suggest prison inmates could donate in exchange for reduction in their sentences in 1992″ at number 26, that’s a weird one! But if you got to the page, you see a Yahoo Answers page coming up like this:
http://answers.yahoo.com/quest.....818AAyHO0y
Many of the answers mention radio trivia, and I’m guessing this was a radio trivia question.
Yeah CNN had a story and video on the legless dogs on their site as well which I am sure played a big role in the Google rise. It was actually pretty accurate I’d imagine in judging the stories rise.
Good to see Goog pumping out early apps - I would like to be a fly on the wall - can anyone guestimate on how many hours a project like this would take?
- RB
The #2 hot trend today is “how does a kangaroo keep cool.” The answer? “To keep cool they drool and lick saliva over their faces and bodies.”
This is the NEXT BIG THING! I’ve already started drooling and licking saliva all over my face and body. Thanks to Google Hot Trends, I’m now living life on the cutting edge!
Two points to Danny, one of the best comments of the year….
And don’t forget at number 62 - the infamous “
Cleveland Steamer“.
I could see this tool becoming a top item by webmasters and SEO experts. E-Commerce sites might do a search for their products to identify the peak seasons, etc.
I’m very excited about this new Google tool.
http://www.cavenger.com is better, anyway
Two more trivia questions on todays list, it’s amazing how many people are trying to cheat at radio trivia by Googling the answer!
There will be a lot of people trying to game this list. I’m waiting for campaigns for really stupid search terms to start showing up, not to mention popular political blogger and radio hosts starting campaigns to get readers to Google “how stupid is candidate x”.
A lot of those make sense. The chihuahua story was everywhere. I came across it several times on various news sites and tv. There is a HUGE batch (brood XIII) of 17 year periodical cicadas emerging in Chicago (a large city) in a couple days. The nose bidet thing has been popular for a while on youtube and got picked up by oprah. Perhaps some web searches may have clued you in?
And I was wondering yesterday why so many people from all over the US had arrived at my blog looking for images of Tasmanian tigers…
@ Duncan: I’m glad you realised that these searches weren’t just the mistake of some Google algorithm. Most of them were fuelled by something happening in the news or something.
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