# Porn searches on Google (SFW) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2022, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257 "2022-01-23T01:51:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/1 "2022-01-23T01:51:34Z")
Search for a random porn-y phrase on Google, and the results inevitably come back with links to video sites. Tens of thousands or more links to video sites. If you weren’t looking for something on a video site, tough. If you explicitly exclude -video -videos -xvideo -xvideos -xxxtube etc., etc. etc., you might filter out about half of the results, the rest of which are still almost all links to video sites. Is this Google’s shameless promotion of pay sites that give kickbacks to Google for giving them priority on search results; or is there some way of asking the search to not do this? ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/2 "2022-01-23T01:56:35Z")
Five years ago, my mom died. A couple months later, I googled her name to find the on line obit, see if others had left any words in remembrance etc. All of a sudden, every result was porn. And no, my mom’s name wasn’t Taffy Sugarwalls or anything. Trying to remember but I think I had to go in and uninstall and reinstall google. You haven’t been hacked have you? ETA: I just googled Taffy Sugarwalls and it had zero results because I have safesearch on. But safesearch didn’t prevent those other results I mentioned. Something had gotten into preferences and pushed a switch I couldn’t change. It was bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/3 "2022-01-23T02:18:03Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > All of a sudden, every result was porn. And no, my mom’s name wasn’t Taffy Sugarwalls or anything. Trying to remember but I think I had to go in and uninstall and reinstall google. \*\* classic “confused” emoticon here \*\* How does one uninstall and reinstall a web site? ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/4 "2022-01-23T02:19:28Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > \*\* classic “confused” emoticon here \*\* > > How does one uninstall and reinstall a web site? Chrome, I guess I meant? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/5 "2022-01-23T02:28:28Z")
There was (briefly) a Canadian sitcom called **Satisfaction** and in one episode they had a show-within-a-show called **Horse Doctor**. I remember looking it up on Google once; someone had posted those bits to Youtube. A couple of months ago I tried doing a Google video search for the same Youtube bit, but I ended up with a bunch of results for South Asian porno. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/6 "2022-01-23T03:01:48Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > is there some way of asking the search to not do this? If I Google a well known porn star’s name, and go to the “all” results tab, a lot of the hits are video sites. That’s not Google distorting anything, that’s the principal market for porn. But it also includes the porn star’s instagram & twitter accounts, the imdb page, a reddit. The “images” tab takes me to still photos. The “news” tab just news stories including this name. There’s even the “books” tab (which it would not until now have occurred to me to look at) takes me to erotic fiction featuring this porn star. It’s really not clear what you are looking for that you think Google makes it hard for you to find. ETA: I just noticed I can go to the “flights” tab, which comes up with Las Vegas & Los Angeles - presumably destinations associated with this porn star, so that I can go stalking… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/7 "2022-01-23T03:18:40Z")
The OP mentions a porn-y phrase. I have also noticed you basically get video results on the main page, but that makes sense since most porn is video. Google is just returning what most people want. Now, if you don’t want porn, you can always enable strict safe search. > **[Filter explicit results using SafeSearch - Computer - Google Search Help](https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/510?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop)** > > Whether you use Google Search at work, with children, or for yourself, SafeSearch can help you filter explicit content from your results. Explicit results include sexually explicit content like pornog ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/8 "2022-01-23T03:22:07Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > It’s really not clear what you are looking for that you think Google makes it hard for you to find. Literally any random phrase you would think might appear in a porn story archive, blog, Reddit, discussion forum, etc. Lemme try for example “her dark nipples”: (komm substituted for com so it won’t live link) Yup, xvideos.komm, shameless.komm\>videos, xhamster.komm, porn300.komm\>video, eporner.komm\>hd-porn, porndroids.komm\>video, xnxx-sex-videos.komm… It goes on forever. Videos and more videos. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/9 "2022-01-23T03:26:21Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Literally any random phrase you would think might appear in a porn story archive, blog, Reddit, discussion forum So you’re trying to isolate text hits for your phrase, from forums etc.? Contrary to your OP, appending -video to the search does seem to achieve that. ETA - but do NOT enclose the phrase in quotation marks, maybe that’s causing the problem you’re having. Google a long time back ditched the “exact phrase” search using quotation marks, and it seems to mess up its comprehension of the -video part for some reason. her dark nipples -video Search on the spoilered text, nothing on the first two pages is a video site. All text hits. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/10 "2022-01-23T04:10:48Z")
Hmm, well that does a good job of eliminating unwanted video hits, but at the cost of sacrificing returns for an exact phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/11 "2022-01-23T04:13:07Z")
But quotation marks for an exact match no longer works anyway. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/12 "2022-01-23T04:13:53Z")
Try using the [“Advanced search” page](https://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en&fg=1) and toggle “Hide explicit results” in the lower section. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/13 "2022-01-23T04:16:46Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > toggle “Hide explicit results” in the lower section But might that hide explicit non-video content too? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/14 "2022-01-23T04:18:56Z")
Actually it appears to block everything. I just typed in one of the example phrases from upthread and it came up with zero results. LOL ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/15 "2022-01-23T04:42:28Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Google a long time back ditched the “exact phrase” search using quotation marks, and it seems to mess up its comprehension of the -video part for some reason. > [@Riemann](#): > > But quotation marks for an exact match no longer works anyway. Huh? I use quotes all the time, and it appears to work very well. I just tested it, in fact, and the phrase I chose showed up in each hit on the first page. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/16 "2022-01-23T05:04:49Z")
Maybe I’m mistaken, but I thought they had changed the way it works some years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/17 "2022-01-23T05:34:56Z")
I wanted to use an image of Micky Mouse dressed as a wizard as part of a work presentation so I Googled Fantasia. Apparently there is a porn actress named Fantasia and a photo of her topless was displayed on my work computer for about a second. It’s been more than three years so I’m probably safe. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/18 "2022-01-23T11:09:56Z")
It only sort of works. If there’s a useful set of results, it’s OK. But if isn’t, Google is all “I know you said exact phrase, but here’s a bunch of garbage results, reminiscent of 1998, based off some synonyms of the individual words. You’re welcome” ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/19 "2022-01-23T12:34:21Z")
My guess is that the large video porn sites have the resources to invest in expensive pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, pay web developers for premium SEO, stuff their sites with back-links and on-site links, have their sites hosted on very fast, secure servers, etc.—all things to rank high on Google. If you want photos instead of videos, you could try googling something like: xxxx xxxx porn photo gallery. I’m only guessing, of course. I would never visit a porn site. I just go to sites about kittens (no, not kitten porn). ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257/20 "2022-01-24T18:47:22Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Is this Google’s shameless promotion of pay sites that give kickbacks to Google for giving them priority on search results I imagine most people who search for porn-y phrases want to watch video pornography, so google is providing what they want. > [@Riemann](#): > > But quotation marks for an exact match no longer works anyway. I hadn’t heard that, and when I try quotation marks in google it seems to work as I expect. Is this change documented? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-searches-on-google-sfw/958257.md?page=2)