Have you noticed recently that as you begin a search on Google, results appear instantly as you type? This is due to a new feature called Google Instant.
The new feature is really self-explanatory. As you type words in the search bar, Google “instantly” displays results that update as soon as you complete your word phrase(s). There is a safety filter for certain blacklisted words that do not yield results when triggered.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I turn off Google Instant?A: If you don’t want to see results as you type, you can turn off Google Instant by clicking the link next to the search box on any search results page, or by visiting your Preferences page.Q: Where is Google Instant available?A: Google Instant is starting to roll-out to users on Google domains in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Russia who use the following browsers: Chrome v5/6, Firefox v3, Safari v5 for Mac and Internet Explorer v8. Please note, users on domains other than Google.com can only access Google Instant if they are signed in to a Google Account. We will continue to add new domains and languages over the next several months.Q: Will Google Instant slow my Internet connection?A: We anticipate that Google Instant will not slow your Internet connection, and we plan to automatically turn it off for very slow connections. Even though we are serving more results pages, the additional load this enhancement creates is very small when compared to other types of web services such as streaming video and online gaming. We’ve also worked hard to minimize the amount of data that is sent and received during the search process. For example, when rendering new results as you type, we only send the parts of the page that change, without updating the static elements, such as a the page frame around the results.Q: I love Google for its simplicity and I usually know what I want to type. Is Google Instant just a distraction for me?A: With Google Instant you don’t lose any of the functionality that you know and love about Google. If you want to type your full search term and hit enter, that still works just as it always has. Even for the experienced searcher, though, instant feedback can help you narrow in on the precise results you want, which may have taken several searches before. On top of that, we estimate that about half of your searches will be returned in net zero time because the results you want will appear before you finish typing.Q: If an offensive or lewd word is a fraction of my query, will Google push these results in front of me as I type?A: As always, we provide options to filter the content you see in search. You can choose to set SafeSearch to filter out explicit content, and parents can lock SafeSearch to the strict setting. In addition, autocomplete excludes certain terms related to pornography, violence and hate speech. Learn more about SafeSearch.Q: Does this change impact the ranking of search results?A: No, this change does not impact the ranking of search results.Q: Is Google Instant available on mobile?A: Google Instant is not yet available on mobile, but we plan to release it soon.
In the mock-up search in the image above I type “whores are cool.” No instant search results are displayed. The feature can also be turned on/off under preferences.
The blacklist is welcomed news, especially if you have little ones or are in a work environment. At the same time it can have a negative effect on those sites whose owners created sites with intentional and unintentional ambiguous names. This means that if Joe created a website for carpet service called Carpet Munchers, Google Instant won’t be doing him any favors. So chose your domain names and keyboards wisely my friends.
This was certainly interesting. While the word combination huge weiner does not produce any instant results. The phrase huge weeiner — rather comically — does display the same results as it would for huge weiner. Don’t ask why I was searching for a huge weeiner.
Here are a few words that I’ve tried out which are blacklisted:
Boobies
Whores
Beaver Cleaver
Huge Wiener/Weiner
Hairy Pussycat
Sack of Balls
Blowjob
Dildo
Cream Pie
cum (blacklisten followed by anything)
If you know of other words that are not on my list, feel free to post them in the comments section of this post.
A collection of user submitted word lists can be found at: 2600.com/Google Blacklist
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