I know people who depend on Google for almost everything, for shopping, for business decisions, for direct answers, etc. I agree that Google is providing more accurate results than any other search engine available today. I am impressed with their growth as a company, as an information provider, building new tools to help the people and the implementation of Artificial Intelligence in their Search Engine's algorithm. But, still, Google search engine is just a tool working with human written coding which gives instructions to pull the data from their massive databases. No tool is hundred percent accurate. So, it is inevitable that Google might give some irrelevant information and wrong answers.
Google recently launches "Featured Snippet" which displays a unique box with a direct answer to your question at the top of other web pages in their top 10 listings. Here, I found some answers are wrong and dumb.
Danny Sullivan, Founding Editor of Search Engine Land, wrote a blog post as he found few wrong answers in Google's direct answers
Adrianne Jeffries, a senior editor at The Outline, wrote a post with few more wrong answers and said "Google's featured snippets are worse than fake news".
Let me give a funny and stupid answer which Google gave me when I searched "why fire trucks are red?"
Here are a few questions Google gives wrong and stupid answers,
In October 2016, Google listed Stephen Colbert’s height as 5-10 and he demands Google apology for getting his height wrong
"I am 5-11 – that’s me, Brad Pitt, Russell Crowe – these are my peers. When we’re in the steam room naked no shoes, we’re looking at each other eye-to-eye…seriously, 5-10? Those are Matt Damon numbers," raged Colbert.
Here are few more stupid answers by Google.
If Google is just a startup, we could have a laugh at it and ignore. But for today's generation, Google is the first option to find something, to know something and to learn something. We can't ignore this, and Google can't avoid these kinds of mistakes in future as I said Google is just a tool which runs on some instructions given by programmers. The only solutions for this is to come up with better Algorithm which detects the difference between truth, fake and a perception, or at least Google should not take answers from external sources for basic questions like "Who is The King of the United States".
Here are a few questions Google gives wrong and stupid answers,
- Presidents in the Klan
- Is Obama planning martial law
- King of the united states
- Is Obama planning a coup
In October 2016, Google listed Stephen Colbert’s height as 5-10 and he demands Google apology for getting his height wrong
"I am 5-11 – that’s me, Brad Pitt, Russell Crowe – these are my peers. When we’re in the steam room naked no shoes, we’re looking at each other eye-to-eye…seriously, 5-10? Those are Matt Damon numbers," raged Colbert.
Here are few more stupid answers by Google.
- What happened to dinosaurs
- Does God love everyone
If Google is just a startup, we could have a laugh at it and ignore. But for today's generation, Google is the first option to find something, to know something and to learn something. We can't ignore this, and Google can't avoid these kinds of mistakes in future as I said Google is just a tool which runs on some instructions given by programmers. The only solutions for this is to come up with better Algorithm which detects the difference between truth, fake and a perception, or at least Google should not take answers from external sources for basic questions like "Who is The King of the United States".
Written by Sudheer Kiran
Full Stack Growth Marketing Professional & Fractional CMOHey, I'm Sudheer. I've spent the last 15+ years working in growth marketing—mostly with B2B SaaS companies, agencies, and startups. I help businesses find smart, scalable ways to grow through digital transformation, brand strategy, and marketing that actually converts.
