Google Hacks

Hack 15 Checking Spelling

Google sometimes takes the liberty of "correcting" what it perceives is a spelling error in your query.

If you've ever used other Internet search engines, you'll have experienced what I call "stupid spellcheck." That's when you enter a proper noun and the search engine suggests a completely ludicrous query ("Elvish Parsley" for "Elvis Presley"). Google's quite a bit smarter than that.

When Google thinks it can spell individual words or complete phrases in your search query better than you can, it'll offer you a suggested "better" search, hyperlinking it directly to a query. For example, if you search for hydrocephelus, Google will suggest that you search instead for hydrocephalus.

Suggestions aside, Google will assume you know of what you speak and return your requested results. Provided, that is, that your query gleaned results.

If your query found no results for the spellings you provided and Google believes it knows better, it will automatically run a new search on its own suggestions. Thus, a search for hydracefallus finding (hopefully) no results will spark a Google-initiated search for hydrocephalus.

Mind you, Google does not arbitrarily come up with its suggestions, but builds them based on its own database of words and phrases found while indexing the Web. If you search for nonsense like garafghafdghasdg, you'll get no results and be offered no suggestions as Figure 1-10 shows.

Figure 1-10. A search that yields no suggestions

This is a lovely side effect and quick and easy way to check the relative frequency of spellings. Query for a particular spelling, making note of the number of results. Then click on Google's suggested spelling and note the number of results. It's surprising how close the counts are sometimes, indicating an oft misspelled word or phrase.

15.1 Embrace Misspellings

Don't make the mistake of automatically dismissing the proffered results from a misspelled word, particularly a proper name. I've been a fan of cartoonist Bill Mauldin for years now, but I continually misspell his name as "Bill Maudlin." And judging from a quick Google search I'm not the only one. There is no law saying that every page must be spellchecked before it goes online, so it's often worth taking a look at results despite misspellings.

As an experiment, try searching for two misspelled words on a related topic, like ventriculostomy hydrocephalis. What kind of information did you get? Could the information you got, if any, be grouped into a particular online "genre"?

At this writing, the search for ventriculostomy hydrocephalis gets only two results. Both of them are for a guestbook at a Developmental (Pediatric) Neurosurgery Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University. The content here is generally from people dealing with various neurosurgical problems. Again, there is no law that says all web materials, especially informal ones like guest book communications, have to be spellchecked.

Use this to your advantage as a researcher. When you're looking for layman accounts of illness and injury, the content you desire might actually be more often misspelled than not. On the other hand, when looking for highly technical information or references from credible sources, filtering out misspelled queries will bring you closer to the information you seek.