Googlefight was a website that output a comparison of the number of
search results
A search engine is a software system designed to carry out web searches. They search the World Wide Web in a systematic way for particular information specified in a textual web search query. The search results are generally presented in a ...
returned by
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
for two queries, presented as the result of a fight. It was a project of Abondance, the company of
Olivier Andrieu.
History and description
Googlefight was developed by Andrieu with two friends.
The results of comparing two Google searches are presented as a bar graph using animated
HTML
The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScri ...
segments, presented as the outcome of a fight. Historically the results were displayed graphically in a mixed
Flash
Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional aliases
* Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed:
** Flash (Barry Allen)
** Flash (Jay Garrick)
** Wally West, the first Kid ...
and
JavaScript
JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of Website, websites use JavaScript on the Client (computing), client side ...
animation
Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...
, with two animated
stick figures fighting on screen after the queries are entered and before an animated bar graph appeared showing the results.
The stick figure animation had no impact on the results.
Between 15 and 27 June 2015, the website was updated to a new version, designed by Andrieu, which the About page stated was powered by
Semrush
Semrush Inc is an American public company that offers a SaaS platform known as Semrush. The platform is often used for keyword research and online ranking data, including metrics such as search volume and cost per click (CPC). The platform also ...
and took into account Google search volume as well as the number of results returned.
[
The site also expanded in 2015 from French and English versions to 11 geographic versions, including German, Italian, Spanish, and Belgian.
]
Uses
The site is used for entertainment, for example comparing Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
and Google, with Google the winner. The results may be comforting, funny or self-referential. It has been used to check spellings. It can also be used as a measure of competitiveness; Salam Pax
Salam Pax is the pseudonym of Salam Abdulmunem ( ar, سلام عبد المنعم), aka Salam al-Janabi ( ar, سلام الجنابي), under which he became the "most famous weblog, blogger in the world" during and after the 2003 invasion of Ira ...
posted a Googlefight result between himself and Raed Jarrar on their blog in 2002, as their worldwide readership rose in the prelude to the 2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
.
Googlefight has been highlighted as an example of a site making money from contextual advertising, as well as one that derives its longevity from community participation (in this case, the always changing search terms).
See also
* Googlewhack
A Googlewhack is a contest to find a Google Search query that returns a single result. A Googlewhack must consist of two words found in a dictionary and is only considered legitimate if both of the search terms appear in the result. The term googl ...
* Google Trends
References
External links
*
{{Google LLC
Comedy websites
Google Search