Matt Cutts: The Hack That Wasn’t

I have to admit; I bought it hook, line and sinker. The timing of it seemed a little suspicious, but who’s to say that hackers weren’t trying to play a little April Fools prank of their own? It never crossed my mind that Matt would actually be behind the whole charade. The 302 redirects were wickedly masterful. Imagine what Matt could do if he focused all that energy on fighting spam instead of taking advantage of naïve journalists such as myself.

3D “Googles”: Don’t Hold Your Breath

As much as the idea of exploring the “metaverse” seemed oh so appealing, sniffing this one out as a hoax wasn’t all that difficult. Still, it was a valiant attempt at chicanery by the folks at Pandia, and for that I must give them props. Ian McKellan as the virtual librarian, though? Come on guys, clearly you should’ve chosen someone with more street cred and broader appeal – someone like our next candidate.

Ask Kevin: I Actually Hoped It Was True

It was brilliant. It was witty. It had that wonderful mélange of outlandishness and subtle hope that comprises the best of all April Fools endeavors. It’s the news item that you’re completely sure has no merit, but at the same time wish was true for the sheer comedic value it would represent to the entirety of the human race. And let’s be serious, would you rather be titled CEO of Ask or President of Keeping It Real?

It’s not even a contest.

If you take a search engine, add a floundering pop star, and throw in prizes for searchers that run queries on the site, then what will you come out with?

Don’t worry; I’m not quite sure either.

What I am sure of, however, is that Kevin Federline now has his very own search engine. The site, Search With Kevin, is smeared with publicity stills of the former Mr. Britney Spears and a search bar that allows users to query for web, image, news, and shopping information, with results provided by Yahoo.

Of course, there’s another incentive (if you can call it that) to searching with K-Fed.

According to the site, “Every time you search the web you stand a chance of winning a prize from Kevin Federline. It’s that simple. Really.”

Implementing Prodégé’s add-on technology, Search With Kevin will give away various prizes to searchers, with the grand prize being a trip to Kevin’s private birthday party.

I guess he has to keep it private to keep the legions of adoring female fans from storming the premises and mauling him in a fit of carnal lust. Yeah, that’s the reason.

What I wonder, however, is whether or not this is the sign of a whole new trend in search marketing.

Finding that things aren’t going the way you like? Launch your own search engine and give away random prizes to those who stop by the site! Inevitably, we could see search engines with the likes of Tony Danza, John Stamos, and Debbie Gibson in efforts to resurrect their careers from the ashes of failure.

Now that’s a scary thought.