List of Google April Fools' Day jokes


From 2000 to 2019, Google frequently inserted jokes and hoaxes into its products on April Fools' Day, which takes place on April 1. The company ceased performing April Fools jokes in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and has not performed them since.

2000

Google's first April Fools' Day hoax, the MentalPlex trick, was a hoax that invited users to project a mental image of what they wanted to find while staring at an animated GIF. Several humorous error messages were then displayed on the search results page, all listed below:
  1. Error 005: KUT Weak or no signal detected. Upgrade transmitter and retry.
  2. Error 666: Multiple transmitters detected. Silence voices in your head and try again.
  3. Error 05: Brainwaves received in analog. Please re-think in digital.
  4. Error 4P: Unclear on whether your search is about money or monkeys. Please try again.
  5. Error 445: Searching on this topic is prohibited under international law.
  6. Error CKR8: That information is protected under the National Security Act.
  7. Error 104: That information was lost with the Martian Lander. Please try again.
  8. Error 007: Query is unclear. Try again after removing hat, glasses and shoes.
  9. Error 008: Interference detected. Remove aluminum foil and remote control devices.
  10. Error: Insufficient conviction. Please clap hands three times, while chanting "I believe" and try again.
  11. Error: MentalPlex™ has determined that this is not your final answer. Please try again.
An additional error message was included which converted all navigation text to German, but was scrapped after user complaints.

2002

Google reveals the technology behind its PageRank Systems—PigeonRank.Pi. Google touts the benefits of this cost-effective and efficient means of ranking pages and reassures readers that there is no animal cruelty involved in the process. The article makes many humorous references and puns based on computer terminology and how Google PageRank really works,.

  • 2004

Fictitious job opportunities for a research center on the moon. Copernicus is the name of a new operating system they claimed to have created for working at the research center.
Google also announced Gmail on April 1, with an unprecedented and unbelievable free 1 GB space, compared to e.g. Hotmail's 2 MB. The announcement of Gmail was written in an unserious jokey language normally seen in April Fools' jokes, tricking many into thinking that it was an April Fools' joke. In reality, it was a double fake, in that the announced product was serious.

2005

Google Gulp, a fictitious drink, was announced by Google in 2005. According to the company, this beverage would optimize one's use of the Google search engine by increasing the drinker's intelligence. It was claimed this boost was achieved through real-time analysis of the user's DNA and carefully tailored adjustments to neurotransmitters in the brain. The drink was said to come in "four great flavors": Glutamate Grape, Sugar-Free Radical, Beta Carotty, and Sero-Tonic Water.
This hoax was probably intended as a parody of Google's then invite-only email service called Gmail. Although ostensibly free, the company claimed the beverage could only be obtained by returning the cap of a Google Gulp bottle to a local grocery store: a Catch-22. In the Google Gulp FAQ, Google replies to the observation, "I mean, isn't this whole invite-only thing kind of bogus?" by saying, "Dude, it's like you've never even heard of viral marketing."
  • Google Gulp
  • Google Gulp FAQ

    2006

On April Fools' Day 2006, Google Romance was announced on the main Google search page with the introduction, "Dating is a search problem. Solve it with Google Romance." It pretends to offer a "Soulmate Search" to send users on a "Contextual Date". A parody of online dating, it had a link for "those who generally favor the 'throw enough stuff at the wall' approach to online dating" to Post multiple profiles with a bulk upload file, you sleaze in addition to Post your Google Romance profile. Clicking on either of these gave an error page, which explained that it was an April Fool's joke and included links to previous April Fools' jokes.

Gmail Paper

At about 10:00 pm, Pacific time on March 30, 2007, Google changed the login page for Gmail to announce a new service called Gmail Paper. The service offered to allow users of Google's free webmail service to add e-mails to a "Paper Archive", which Google would print and mail via traditional post. The service would be free, supported by bold, red advertisements printed on the back of the printed messages. Image attachments would also be printed on high-quality glossy paper, though MP3 and WAV files would not be printed. The page detailing more information about the service features photographs of Ian Spiro and Carrie Kemper, current employees of Google. Also featured are Product Marketing Managers of Gmail Anna-Christina Douglas and Shane Lawrence.
  • Gmail Paper Index
  • Gmail Paper Announcement
  • Gmail Paper Program Policies

    Google TiSP

Google TiSP was a fictitious free broadband service supposedly released by Google. This service would make use of a standard toilet and sewage lines to provide free Internet connectivity at a speed of 8 Mbit/s . The user would drop a weighted end of a long, Google-supplied fiber-optic cable in their toilet and flush it. Around 60 minutes later, the end would be recovered and connected to the Internet by a "Plumbing Hardware Dispatcher ". The user would then connect their end to a Google-supplied wireless router and run the Google-supplied installation media on a Windows XP or Windows Vista computer. Alternatively, a user could request a professional installation, in which Google would deploy nanobots through the plumbing to complete the process. The free service would be supported by "discreet DNA sequencing" of "personal bodily output" to display online ads that relate to culinary preferences and personal health. Google also referenced the Diet Coke-and-Mentos reaction in their FAQ: "If you're still experiencing problems, drop eight mints into the bowl and add a two-liter bottle of diet soda." They also claim that Enterprise plans will include support in the event of backup problems, brownouts and data wipes.
  • Google TiSP
  • Google TiSP FAQ
  • Installation page
  • Press Release page
  • Not found page – April Fools' version

    2008

Blogger "Google Weblogs (beta)"

The Blogger dashboard featured an announcement for Google Weblogs, or "GWeblogs," or "Gblogs," the next revolution in personal publishing. Features include algorithms putting the user's best content at the top of the user's blog, automatically populating the blog's sidebar with the most relevant content, posting directly into Google search results for maximum visibility, blog headers refreshed with images from Google's team of artists for anniversaries of a scientific achievement, and automatic content generation
The announcement was followed by a link to a video tour of the product, which actually led to Tay Zonday's cover of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up."
  • Blogger Buzz: The Official Buzz from Blogger at Google: Announcing Google Weblogs

    Dajare

Google Japan launches Dajare, with the mission of "organizing the world's laughter."

Day

Google announced Day in Australia, a new beta search technology that will search web pages 24 hours before they are created. The name is a play on the phrase "g'day".
  • gDay

    Gmail Custom Time

Gmail's sign-in page and a banner at the top of each Gmail inbox announced a new feature, called Gmail Custom Time, that would allow its users to "pre-date" their messages and choose to have the message appear as "read" or "unread". The new feature uses the slogan "Be on time. Every time."
Around 11:00 pm EST March 31, 2008, on the newer and older version of Gmail, but not in the basic HTML version, in the upper right corner, next to Settings, a link appeared labeled, "New! Gmail Custom Time". The link led to a 404 error until April 1, when it led to the full Gmail Custom Time hoax page. Clicking any of the three links at the bottom of the page brought the user to a page stating that Gmail Custom time was, in fact, their April Fools' Day joke.

Google Book Search Scratch and Sniff

Google Book Search has a new section allowing users to "scratch and sniff" certain books. Users are asked to "...please place your nose near the monitor and click 'Go'", which then "loads odors". When clicking on "Help", users are redirected to a page in a book that describes the origins of April Fools' Day.
  • Inside Google Book Search Blog: "Google Book Search now smells better"

    Google Calendar is Feeling Lucky

Google added the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button to its calendar feature. When a user tries to create a new event, the user was given the regular option of entering the correct details and hitting "Create Event", and also the new option of "I'm Feeling Lucky" which would set the user up with an evening date with, among others, Matt Damon, Eric Cartman, Tom Cruise, Jessica Alba, Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton, Angelina Jolie, Britney Spears, Anna Kournikova, Johnny Depp, George W. Bush, or Lois Griffin.

Google Manpower Search

Google launched Manpower Search in China. The feature was presented as being powered by 25 million volunteers who conducted searches around the clock. When the user entered a keyword, volunteers would search any possible answers from a mass of paper documents as well as online resources. The user was expected to get the search result within 32 seconds. The "search" button would avoid the user's cursor.

Google ''Saturi'' Translate

Google Korea announced that 'Google Saturi Translate' had been opened on April 1, 2008. When the user tried to use this translator, a message appeared, explaining that it was an April Fools' Day event and was not executable.