Come April and Google’s best brains get together to fool internet users worldwide. It all started in April 2000, when Google announced a new search technology called MentalPlex which supposedly read user’s mind. It claimed that users didn’t have to type for key words anymore. And a large number of users were turned into scapegoats!
Perhaps the April fool hoax of 2002 was the most famous one. Google finally announced the truth behind their PageRank technology – PigeonRank!! They claimed that they used pigeons to rank pages and also assured users that there was no animal cruelty behind this.
Later in 2005, GoogleGulp was advertised as a beverage which had the potential to increase the drinkers intelligence. Google in fact gave a fictitious theory describing how the neurotransmitters in the brain were enhanced by the drink. They even claimed to have a patent on it!
“Dating is a search problem. Solve it with Google Romance.” Google’s Romance Search was a take on the many online dating websites. The ignorant users who decided to search for their soulmate on Google Romance were in for a shock when they discovered that they were fooled.
Gmail Paper was something that took me in too! Google advertised that they would deliver a hardcopy of e-mails to the user’s doorstep. They also claimed that the images would be printed on high-quality glossy paper! Just like thousands of other users, I clicked on the Gmail Paper link only to find a list of previous April fool hoaxes listed! 
Heard of Google Mobile?? You have to put your phone to your head & think of a query. And when you click on “Try Now”, a list of searches will be displayed. However, a fake list would be displayed. This was yet another brain-teaser from the Search engine giants.
Heard of Bork Bork Bork or Pig Latin?? Google claimed that they offered services in these non-existent languages 
But Google also released their most successful service – Gmail on April fool’s day! Users at that time refused to believe that this was true since a free email service that offers 1GB storage was a fact that was hard to digest!
Being a big fan of Google’s innovative Hoaxes, I’m waiting to see what they have in store for April 2010.
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Wow, an awesome post….I had heard somewhere that Google were great in creating hoaxes somewhere but really did not know the different hoaxes it had created. Very funny…lol
Shiva @ SEO Magazine´s last blog ..Fastest Loading Free WordPress Themes
hehe..Thanks Shiva!
Nandini R´s last blog ..The Ruler of the Universe!
I’m going to get the shock of my life when they put my PR as 10 on april fools day… Google has always been good with jokes… Not to forget the Chrome 3D april fools joke !
Siddhu´s last blog ..Tips to choose your antivirus
@Siddhu lols! PR 10?? All the best bro………..
.. I want PR 14 Then! lol
Anyways Advance happy Fools day!
LOL 14 Page rank? Then mine would be 101.
Ankit´s last blog ..Internet Explorer losing its Market Share!
Lol cnt wait to experience it
lets see what they will do now
ajeet´s last blog ..Mozilla Firefox Hanging & Crashing problem
I am also waiting for something cool to come, Thanks a lot for this post Nandini.
Thanks Suhasini! Don’t forget to come back to check this year’s April fool hoax!
Well you have amazingly compiled the list of Google April Fool Pranks. Congrats you have made me read the whole post
p.s. though this the first article of Nandini I read here ! Keep it up.
Hi Hami…Thanks for taking time to read by article. Do stop by regularly to read more such articles
Nandini Rajagopalan´s last blog ..The Ruler of the Universe!
I love pranks by tech companies. Valve has left a lot of good clues / pranks to Portal 2. It’s fun, great marketing, and a great way to build some good will.