Google Suggests Searchers Should "Kill Yourself" & Commit Suicide

Sep 15, 2009 - 8:07 am 5 by
Filed Under Google

A Google Web Search Help thread has a complaint from a worried searcher who stumbled upon a Google Suggestion on how to kill yourself. He said he was searching for tips on killing poisonous mushrooms and when he began typing "how to kill," Google suggested he search for "How to killing yourself."

Here is a picture:

Google Suggests Suicide

Google does sometimes censor the suggestions in the list but typically they are algorithmically driven based on searcher popularity. In this case, it might make sense for Google to filter out these suggestions.

The topic of suicide ads showing up in in AdWords is nothing new. Also, in the past we talked about Google censoring both the ads and organic results for suicide matches. Although censoring results is typically something Google is against, censoring the suggestions is something they have historically done and should do here.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google News

Google Won't Be Broken Up In Monopoly Case But Required To Share Search Data

Sep 2, 2025 - 5:50 pm
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: September 2, 2025

Sep 2, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

September 2025 Google Webmaster Report

Sep 2, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Ads

New Google Ads Checkboxes To Filter Campaigns

Sep 2, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Ads

Google Ads AI Max Not Designed To Go More Aggressively After SPN Inventory

Sep 2, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Search Google Maps For Location Assets

Sep 2, 2025 - 7:21 am
 
Previous Story: Google Blamed For New York Times Malware