Monday, March 19, 2012

I Rank Number One on Google

 
I was searching through some old posts today and I came across I Rank Number One on Google from October 2007. The idea was to come up with five words or phrases where Google would return something by you at the top of the page.

Back then I picked ...
  • Larry Moran
  • Sandwalk
  • Three Domain Hypothesis
  • adaptationist-pluralist
  • is there a genetic component to intelligence
All five of them worked in 2007 but today the last one has Sandwalk in 4th position. The list that works today is ....
  • Larry Moran
  • Sandwalk
  • Three Domain Hypothesis
  • adaptationist-pluralist
  • random genetic drift
How easy is this? Can every blogger come up with a list where they rank number one on the Google search? I tried it with a few blog names and it always seems to work. The names of some bloggers don't always work. We already know about a more famous "John Wilkins" for example and "Paul Myers" doesn't even mention the Pharyngula blogger in the top ten!1

I'm giving a lecture tomorrow on the Three Domain Hypothesis and why it is no longer valid. I still have the top three hits for this topic on Google. In case you've forgotten, you can read about it at: Theme: The Three Domain Hypothesis.

1. "Paul Zachary Myers" works, but that's cheating.
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8 comments:

  1. Improbable JoeMonday, March 19, 2012 4:27:00 PM

    "chuck norris is crazy" puts me pretty high up. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. GeorgeMonday, March 19, 2012 6:38:00 PM

    Sorry. I tried "Random Genetic Drift" Sandwalk was not on the first page from Google. First entry was Talkorigins, then Wikipedia, then Berley.edu...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Larry MoranMonday, March 19, 2012 8:44:00 PM

      Hmmm ... did you happen to notice who was the author of that talkorigins article?

      Delete
    2. DKMonday, March 19, 2012 9:14:00 PM

      You totally left Wright and Kimura in the dust :-)

      Delete
    3. Sean RidoutTuesday, March 20, 2012 3:15:00 AM

      Google results differ based on who is searching. Strictly speaking, the only way to get a universal result would be to use a search engine that doesn't track your history and use it to tailor your search results, e.g. duck duck go.

      Delete
  3. John S. WilkinsMonday, March 19, 2012 6:40:00 PM

    How do you know I'm not also the more famous John Wilkins? Hmm?

    ReplyDelete
  4. GeorgeMonday, March 19, 2012 10:35:00 PM

    Ah ha! I will assume you rare the author - sweet. But alas I cannot see it as it is blocked at work for some reason.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kevin AnthoneyWednesday, March 21, 2012 3:26:00 PM

    "Monday's Molecule" has you in all the top four positions. PZ gets top with "PZ Myers", "Pharyngula", "sniny", "Friday Cephalopod", "anti-caturday", "I get email", "it's just a cracker" and "Monday Metazoan", but only gets third place for "professor poopyhead".

    ReplyDelete