# Google, 7 years ago **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 1, 2008, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975 "2008-10-01T06:59:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/21 "2008-10-01T19:32:19Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Try “[Sarah Palin Wasilla](http://www.google.com/search2001/search?hl=en&q=Sarah+Palin+Wasilla&btnG=Google+Search)” instead. Interesting, since Your search - “Sarah Palin” - did not match any documents. Suggestions: Make sure all words are spelled correctly. Try different keywords. Try more general keywords. Try fewer keywords. ---
**Author:** ![Wheeljack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@Wheeljack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheeljack)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/22 "2008-10-01T19:39:44Z")
All right! Let’s hit the Ate My Balls webring! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/23 "2008-10-01T20:38:57Z")
Wikipedia: 681 in 2001, 286,000,000 now. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/24 "2008-10-01T22:03:18Z")
“Asian Tsunami” (with quotes) gets 25 hits. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/25 "2008-10-01T23:22:02Z")
Dammit, now I look all narcissistic for my vanity googling while everybody else thought of culturally or politically relevant topics… Oh well. In 2001, searching for ‘porn’ generated 4,490,000 hits; in 2008, the same search comes up with 173,000,000 hits. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/26 "2008-10-01T23:28:12Z")
Vanity search, naturally, as I’m the only me in the world… the second result is me, and nothing else, the rest is quite possibly all the result of work by the Mormons, or at least their records being the ones added to the new thing first because they were, well, best. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/27 "2008-10-01T23:43:10Z")
“End of the world” gets 20.5 million hits now, compared with 255,000 in 2001. I’m trying to find something that has fewer hits, or scarcely more hits, compared to 2001. I’m thinking that’s going to be a real challenge - who’s with me? I’m thinking something like a flash-in-the-pan TV show or personality may do the trick, but with Wikipedia and the sheer proliferation of fan geekery, it might be very hard. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/28 "2008-10-01T23:57:05Z")
Wow, look at what the [iPod](http://web.archive.org/web/20010712102641/www.vrex.com/apps/html/ipod.html) looked like in Jan 2001… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/29 "2008-10-01T23:58:19Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Wow, look at what the [iPod](http://web.archive.org/web/20010712102641/www.vrex.com/apps/html/ipod.html) looked like in Jan 2001… I’m pretty sure the makers of that device later sued Apple over the name. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/30 "2008-10-02T00:02:38Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’m pretty sure the makers of that device later sued Apple over the name. Then lost everything in the legal battle! Should’ve settled. ETA: I was just kidding – looks like [VREX](http://www.vrex.com/) is still around. Maybe they did settle? ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/31 "2008-10-02T01:39:31Z")
Yes, it was January 2001 - the beginning of a [new century](http://www.google.com/search2001/search?q=%22Project+For+A+New+American+Century%22&hl=en)… ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/32 "2008-10-02T02:01:29Z")
My presence: None. (It isn’t too much better now.) [Angela Merkel](http://www.google.com/search2001/search?q=%22Angela+Merkel%22&hl=en&sa=N&btnG=Search) had a large number of hits, with [Nicolas Sarkozy](http://www.google.com/search2001/search?q=%22Nicolas+Sarkozy%22&hl=en&sa=N&btnG=Search&btnG=Search&btnG=Search&btnG=Search&btnG=Search&btnG=Search) and [Taro Aso](http://www.google.com/search2001/search?q=%22Taro+Aso%22&hl=en&sa=N&btnG=Search&btnG=Search&btnG=Search&btnG=Search&btnG=Search&btnG=Search&btnG=Search), while not slouches, farther back, and the first hit for [Kevin Rudd](http://www.google.com/search2001/search?q=%22Kevin+Rudd%22&hl=en&sa=N&btnG=Search&btnG=Search&btnG=Search&btnG=Search&btnG=Search&btnG=Search&btnG=Search&btnG=Search) not being the right one. ---
**Author:** ![BrknButterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@BrknButterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrknButterfly)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/33 "2008-10-02T02:09:54Z")
[Then.](http://www.google.com/search2001/search?q=angelina+jolie&hl=en&btnG=Search)[Now…](http://www.google.com/search?q=angelina+jolie&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a) ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/34 "2008-10-02T02:19:43Z")
“Social Networking” 7,500 hits then 28,000,000 hits now **Your search - youtube - did not match any documents.** ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/35 "2008-10-02T02:32:04Z")
[QUOTE=ShibbOleth] Try “Sarah Palin Wasilla” instead. [/QUOTE] 31 hits! [Palin, who has admitted to inhaling as a young woman, said little.](http://web.archive.org/web/20010208164916/www.adn.com/elex/story/0,3109,207133,00.html) [Sarah’s recipe for Sweet and Saucy Grilled Salmon](http://web.archive.org/web/20010411195533/www.alaskaseafood.org/table/recipes/firstannual8.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Emery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Emery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emery)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/36 "2008-10-02T13:22:33Z")
Holy guacamole! Searching [youtube.com](http://youtube.com) goes from 0 in 2001, up to 698 million today. Can anybody find a greater difference between dates for a search term? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/37 "2008-10-02T13:52:38Z")
I found a list of 14 search engines on an old site I maintained. Google was not one of them. ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/38 "2008-10-02T14:00:01Z")
> [@Emery](#): > > Holy guacamole! Searching [youtube.com](http://youtube.com) goes from 0 in 2001, up to 698 million today. Can anybody find a greater difference between dates for a search term? “youtube” in 2001 = 0 “youtube” in 2008 = 1.12 billion Incredible, considering Google 01 had indexed just 1.33 billion pages ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/39 "2008-10-02T15:50:44Z")
> [@Emery](#): > > Holy guacamole! Searching [youtube.com](http://youtube.com) goes from 0 in 2001, up to 698 million today. Can anybody find a greater difference between dates for a search term? Youtube, period, is 0 results back then, not just [youtube.com](http://youtube.com). See post 34. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975/40 "2008-10-02T20:45:08Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > “End of the world” gets 20.5 million hits now, compared with 255,000 in 2001. > > I’m trying to find something that has fewer hits, or scarcely more hits, compared to 2001. I’m thinking that’s going to be a real challenge - who’s with me? I’m thinking something like a flash-in-the-pan TV show or personality may do the trick, but with Wikipedia and the sheer proliferation of fan geekery, it might be very hard. This is very tough, since there are so few pages from then. I got a few ties (with less than 10 hits, although not the same sites; I think “Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new movie” might have been one). But I did get one: “free east timor now” then: 85 now: 67 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-7-years-ago/465975.md?page=3)