A word is SearchEngineResistant if typing it into a SearchEngine will return millions of hits that have nothing whatsoever to do with what you are looking for. Given that e.g. AltaVista ignores punctuation, this set is even bigger than it otherwise would be. Here are some:
- Self (SelfLanguage, 5 million hits)
- COM (MicroSoft's ComponentObjectModel)
- .Net (MicrosoftDotNet, returns ~37 million hits)
- C++ (CeePlusPlus, 57 million on AltaVista, works on http://google.com) * See below
- C (CeeLanguage) and all other one letter names like B, K, J (JayLanguage)
- C# (CsharpLanguage)
- Word (MicrosoftWord)
- Windows (MicrosoftWindows. Is becoming less resistant, as the old uses of the word are being phased out. Which means the "old-timers" looking for physical windows are having this word added to their list)
- Access (MicrosoftAccess)
- Python (If you're looking for the snake, or, if you're looking for the language but wanting to avoid Monty Python references)
- Clarinet (Use to be bad [1994], but no longer -- only in that http://www.clari.net/ comes up as the top result because Google orders by how linked-to a page is; if you're looking for anything ELSE relating to it, good luck!)
- Forth (ForthLanguage)
- Beaver, if you're looking for animals of the genus castor.
- THE ( TheHumaneInterface by JefRaskin )
- Sun (SunMicrosystems)
- ONE (SunOne: Open Net Environment from Sun)
- assembly (AssemblyLanguage ... although "assembler" usually hits mostly assembly language)
- Keynote, Pages (AppleComputers?) -- I keep finding this when I want to watch Steve Jobs tell me how awesome MacOS X Tiger is going to be. And Apple's usually so good about being searchable, with their one-letter prefixes (iPod, iPhoto, etc).
MicroSoft seems especially proficient in choosing
SearchEngineResistant words for their core products.
Yes, I hear that .Net does "assembly" ... but they don't mean AssemblyLanguage.
Yeah, but Sun is no better. ONE ([Sun] Open Net Environment)...
Workarounds:
Context: Add extra terms for context, especially within quotes:
- "word document"
- C programming
Category Search: If you're looking for physical windows, you're better off to search beneath a "Construction" or "Home" category than all of the web, which will return MS Windows stuff.
Subtract Terms: Use Google's "-" feature to nix out the words you don't want. For instance:
- python -monty
- +forth -"so forth" -"bring forth" -"brought forth"
Related Terms: Rather than the term itself, use synonyms or closely-related words
- rather than searching for ".NET", search for "Common Language Runtime" or "Microsoft CLR"
That's why I like it when single-letter prefixes are used -- iMac, iBook, JPython, ZSNES...
A note about C++ working on Google:
In early 2001 I submitted a bug to Google that C++ didn't search correctly (URL's treat "+" as a space by default. I could effectively find C++ stuff by searching for C%2E%2E, but that was lame). I got an auto-responder mail minutes later. After only ~3 weeks, the bug was fixed. They rock.
physical windows
Please. That's so last-century.
Today I use threaded fasteners to hang up fenestration.
Search Engine Resistant