Googlefight was a website that output a comparison of the number of search results returned by Google for two queries, presented as the result of a fight. It was a project of Abondance, the company of Olivier Andrieu.[1]
Googlefight was developed by Andrieu with two friends.[2] The results of comparing two Google searches are presented as a bar graph using animated HTML segments, presented as the outcome of a fight. Historically the results were displayed graphically in a mixed Flash and JavaScript animation, with two animated stick figures fighting on screen after the queries are entered and before an animated bar graph appeared showing the results.[3] The stick figure animation had no impact on the results.
Between 15 and 27 June 2015, the website was updated to a new version, designed by Andrieu, which the About page stated was powered by Semrush and took into account Google search volume as well as the number of results returned.[2]
The site also expanded in 2015 from French and English versions to 11 geographic versions, including German, Italian, Spanish, and Belgian.[4]
The site is used for entertainment, for example comparing Microsoft and Google, with Google the winner.[5] The results may be comforting, funny or self-referential.[6] [7] It has been used to check spellings.[8] It can also be used as a measure of competitiveness; Salam Pax posted a Googlefight result between himself and Raed Jarrar on their blog in 2002, as their worldwide readership rose in the prelude to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[9]
Googlefight has been highlighted as an example of a site making money from contextual advertising, as well as one that derives its longevity from community participation (in this case, the always changing search terms).[10]
