# Strings of nonsense words on websites

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strings-of-nonsense-words-on-websites/564642>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 18, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strings-of-nonsense-words-on-websites/564642 "2010-12-18T19:20:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strings-of-nonsense-words-on-websites/564642/1 "2010-12-18T19:20:43Z")

</div>

Sometimes when I’m doing a google search, when I get down to the last few pages (obviously, not when there are 3 million hits, but only when there are a few hundred) the last few websites that show up have strings of nonsense words with my search term mixed in.

Like maybe I’m searching for the phrase “black handled scissors.” The last few (least relevant) sites will have a string of words like

_pancake, water, alfalfa, black handled scissors, transmission, Angelina Jolie_

or something like that.

Why?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strings-of-nonsense-words-on-websites/564642/2 "2010-12-18T19:25:27Z")

</div>

They’re trying to game the search engines. All the words on a site go into the index and when a word is searched it’s hoped that the site is near the top.

The trick is that engines like Google detect this and use different criteria in ranking the results.

To some extent it’s a throwback to earlier days when the search engines were not as sophisticated.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strings-of-nonsense-words-on-websites/564642/3 "2010-12-18T20:11:17Z")

</div>

> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> …_pancake, water, alfalfa, black handled scissors, transmission, Angelina Jolie_…
> 
> Why?

Rule 34 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strings-of-nonsense-words-on-websites/564642/4 "2010-12-18T20:19:04Z")

</div>

> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> _pancake, water, alfalfa, black handled scissors, transmission, Angelina Jolie_
> 
> or something like that.

Sounds like the lost verse to [“Waters of March.”](http://des.emory.edu/mfp/waters.html)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strings-of-nonsense-words-on-websites/564642/5 "2010-12-18T22:45:24Z")

</div>

Oh God I LOVE the song “Waters of March,”