Google’s 56 forgotten (secret) pages, part two

October 09th, 2006 - Filed under Google, Recommended Websites by Cristian Mezei

Again, some of these pages are indeed still public, but either have not been seen by many people, have been missed or are just very hard to find. The rest are just NOT public anymore and can be found either by searching the search engines for keywords, or by consulting the sitemap.xml and the robots.txt files:

Holiday Certificate: Enjoy the gift of Google (local mirror).
Enable Cookies help page.
Google and Dilbert Doodle created by cartoonist Scott Adams for Google’s Holiday Logos.
About Dennis Hwang (Hwang Jung-moak) - the designer of almost all of Google’s doodles. He’s a 28 years old Korean artist.
Google Grants returns the 404. I guess Google’s tired to give money for free, or someone made a bubu. Also look at these Google Grants PDF documents from 2004 : Account Basics (local mirror), Keywords (local mirror), Ads (local mirror), Extra Help (local mirror).
Why we sell advertising, not search results.
Google Fan Logos - great collection of Google logos, made by fans all around the world. I don’t think this page is public.
Google’s code of conduct - Our informal corporate motto is “Don’t be evil”.
Google’s financial data where we learn that they actually made a dedicated row for “Settlement of dispute with Yahoo” for the 2004 Google - Yahoo dispute. Funny thing is that the WSJ reports a figure of $328 million and Google reports a figure of $201 million (which represented about 6% of all of Google’s 2004 income).
Google Press Blog -YES, very few knew about it, I know. It even has a feed, so you can be up to date. None of the regular Google Blogs link to it anyway.
Google Milestones - A history of Google’s achievements.
Trademark Complaint Procedures - If you have concerns about the use of your trademark in their advertiser’s ads or in a parked domain name.
Some older pages on a Google Tour and Building a better query
The 2004 version of Google Labs: Why should you work at Google versus the 2006 (current) one.
Explanation - Google’s explanation of their very disturbing search results when searching for “Jew” (2004).
Google Store, Americas and Worldwide - Buy stuff branded with Google, like a Google beach towel or a White Google Polo Shirt for your wife. And yes, the Google stores are developed using Microsoft Technology (ASP).
Google Gulp - They are pleased to announce Google Gulp (BETA)™ with Auto-Drink™ (LIMITED RELEASE), a line of “smart drinks” designed to maximize your surfing efficiency by making you more intelligent, and less thirsty.
2000 Google Easter Animation - Catch the eggs in order to spell “Google” (if you complete the game twice, there’s a suprise). Very funny and UGLY :)
Some 100 Euro Adwords coupon for Google.de - Wrote in german.
10 Tips for Enterprise Search - A best practices tip sheet (local mirror).
10 things about Google’s Philosophy.
Google’s fight spyware information page - In the footer, they recommend some anti-spyware programs.
Google Alert #1: June 26, 2000, Google Launches World’s Largest Search Engine (is that right ? ;) )
20 Year Usenet Timeline - “Google has fully integrated the past 20 years of Usenet archives into Google Groups, which now offers access to more than 800 million messages dating back to 1981. This is by far the most complete collection of Usenet articles ever assembled and a fascinating first-hand historical account.”
How to create a successful Google Grants campaign.
Bouncing Heart Applet - See the 2000 and 2001 credits.
Google Cheatsheet. FYI, did you knew that “~auto loan” will allow auto to match car, truck, etc ?. Here’s an extended Cheat Sheet from GoogleGuide and another PDF Cheat Sheet for print.
Google Jobs Internship Opportunities - They’re looking for students pursuing degrees in computer science (or closely related areas), who love to problem-solve, code, and design.
Google Jobs: Top 10 Reasons to Work at Google. I especially like #7 :
7. Good company everywhere you look. Googlers range from former neurosurgeons, CEOs, and U.S. puzzle champions to alligator wrestlers and former-Marines. No matter what their backgrounds Googlers make for interesting cube mates.
I mean, who the heck at Google is an alligator wrestler ?
Video: An Inside Look at Google.
Some funked up Google Logo, live on Google’s servers, from (insert unknown year and ocasion here):

2001 Google Search Guide PDFs - Front (local mirror) and back (local mirror). From the content:
DIRECTORIES VS. SEARCH ENGINESIf you have a general idea of the subject in which you’re interested, but are not sure exactly what you’re looking for, a directory is a great place to start. Directories like Yahoo! use human editors to organize information in broad categories, such as finance, sports, or travel. Think of them as giant card catalogs.
10 Google fun facts:
Googlers are multifaceted. One operations manager, who keeps the Google network in good health is a former neurosurgeon. One software engineer is a former rocket scientist. And the company’s chef formerly prepared meals for members of The Grateful Dead and funkmeister George Clinton.
Google Timelines from 2001 (mentioned in the previous article too) and from 2002.
Google Zeitgeist Special Edition - Election 2004 - A bit of insight into people’s 2004 campaign interests.
Hi resolution TIF images (zip archived) with Google Executives like Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Larry AND Sergey, Eric Schmidt, Cindy Mccaffrey, Craig Silverstein, David Drummund, George Reyes, Jonathan Rosenberg, Omid Kordestani and others. Here is the full list of zip archives:
http://www.google.com/press/guides/picasa2_overview_highres.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/cindy_mccaffrey.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/craig_silverstein.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/david_drummund.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/mini.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/es_results.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/george_reyes.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/francais.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/google_eps.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/google_hi_res.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/google_homepage.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/google_omid.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/google_search_appliance2.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/google_search_results.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/google_tabs_homepage.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/jonathan_rosenberg.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/larry_page.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/page_brin.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/omid_kordestani.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/sergey_brin.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/toolbar_hires.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/toolbar_screenshot.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/toolbar_screenshot_hires.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/shona_brown.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/eric_schmidt.ziphttp://www.google.com/press/images/alan_eustace.zip
Zeitgeist Archive from 2001 to the present day, including searches done for CNN or World Trade Center, Pentagon, Nostradamus or Bin La Den on Sep. 11. Other Search Statistics Related to September 11, 2001.
Corporate Information: Google Offices around the world featuring phones and addresses for each office, including driving directions - Page not public anymore.
Google Content-Targeted Advertising - The ancestor of Adsense. From the page:
How do you get started?
It’s easy. If you’re a web publisher who sells advertising inventory, and your site receives more than 20 million page views a month, you may be a great fit for Google’s content-targeted ads.
20 Million ? Really ? :)
Premium Service for AdSense PDF (local mirror) - A 2003 PDF presentation of the Google Adsense Premium service. See the HTML version.
A 2004 Adsense Tax PDF (local mirror). Look, we have a fax and a telephone number in the header :)
Google AdSense Charity Ad Formats proposals and feedback requests. Amongst the questions asked by Google in this particular feedback page:
1. What is your overall feedback about the proposed changes?2. The Public Service Announcements are no longer Google branded. What is your feedback about this specific change?
The results was this page. They were named PSA too (from charity ads).
Google AdSense Charity ad formats example (when there were only 6 formats available). Funny thing (if you look in the source code) about these “charity” ads, is the PUB ID and the fact that all those ID’s are live :
http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/adclick?sa=l& ai=A0tJUlyc8_UJ8KIrzt8u3QG8AK_NVUnqLRIABAEAAFm-AEQwYh1ycsF2coR2b0 91NygDe5ADAseYVAAAA3IDO4lDMfF2cAIA&num=4&adurl= http://www.unitedway.org/%3Fas_grant&client=ca-slashdot_728×90
So SlashDot used Adsense in the past ? Or was it a charity website ? :)
A certain Frankfurt Print Tour by Thomson Course Technology.
A cool 2004 Adsense Tour.
Google Gmail tour from 2005 - It’s movie based. Great tour BTW.
2005 Gmail Program Policies Redline version (???) - updated June 28, 2004.
A page with bloggers that wrote (reviews) about Gmail.
Gmail’s Third Party Software Error page.
Bulk e-mail sending tips and information from Gmail.
3 Gmail XMLs : spam-0, trash-0 and trash-1. Don’t ask me what they are.
A Google Healthcare Powerpoint presentation (zip) by Kevin Gough (Product Marketing Manager - Google Enterprise).
Google Mini Sweepstakes Rules.
A 2005 Google Search appliance flash presentation.
Google Mini Administration Interface presentation. I always wondered how the Admin interface for a Mini looks like :)
IF, for some weird, unheard of reason I included here some URLs which were present in the old secret Google pages post too, don’t take it personally.

Google’s secret and/or forgotten places

July 20th, 2006 - Filed under Internet Marketing & SEO, Funny stuff, Google, Google Adsense & Adwords, Recommended Websites by Cristian Mezei

I regularly check Google’s robots.txt as well as sitemap.xml pages (YES, Google does have a Google sitemap), with hope of finding new and interesting places to study.
Previously I wrote about Google’s unseen parts which could be found in Google’s robots.txt. Now I’m taking you trough some places found in Google’s sitemap.xml (please note that there are a lot of other pages in that sitemap which I will not write about, so go check them out):
The pages
Basic Google search WITHOUT ADS - This has got to be my nicest find, and I’ll be sure to bookmark it and use it a lot more than the usual Google. Don’t remove the &output=googleabout from the URL, because it will not work otherwise.
An old advertisment page - An old advertisment page where we find the first Google AdWords Select program.
Solutions for Financial Services (metrics) - A page with some really interesting Google stats, dated November 2005.
Jumpstart - If you’re a new advertiser planning to spend at least 50 U.S. dollars a day on AdWords, our Jumpstart specialists will use their extensive knowledge of AdWords to create a customized campaign that you can modify and use as a model for future campaigns.
Advertising Demos and Guides - Some really nice advertising tutorials, demos and guides.
10 Tips for Enterprise Search - Use these tips to find, index, and rank pages on your company websites more effectively as you improve your users’ search experience.
The last Adwords newsletter - dated July 2004, with some really nice sidebar stats.
Guidelines for Third Party Use of Google Brand Features - ALL the Google trademarks for all their services. The page also provides guidelines for the use of Google’s brand features.
The Google Web Directory - A page which is not public anymore, listing some nice infos and facts about the Google Directory.
Google Corporate contact page - Which is not public anymore, for some time now, and where we find some OTHER phone numbers than the ones used these days in their current contact page (go ahead and compare the phones below with the ones that are now in their contact pages):
Google Inc.1600 Amphitheatre ParkwayMountain View CA 94043phone: (650) 623-4000fax: (650) 618-1499
Security Issues E-mails - You will find e-mails and send reports regarding security problems with any of Google’s services, systems, or networks. Quite useful.
Google dance 2002 and Google Dance 2003 - A funny Dance competition Google organized back then. Lots of never before seen photos of Googler’s and the Plex.
Notification of Account Termination for My-Deja Email Accounts - I actually don’t know what exactly the heck this is (I do have a basic ideea), but I’ll mention it anyway.
Google Jobs@Britney - I think it’s some test page of their spelling suggestion system. Anyway, I think I should report that page in the right spam report place, because it uses keyword stuffing :D
Google Lunar Jobs - Google is interviewing candidates for engineering positions at their lunar hosting and research center, opening late in the spring of 2007. Nice huh ?
Some Lunar jobs test page - A test/saved page which (I think) got left on the server. ANyway, you can re-see the old Google interface.
Add Google buttons to Netscape - Some really old page with info’s on how to put favourite bookmarks in Netscape’s browser (page not public anymore).
PDF Form Request your permission to use Google’s brand features.
Googlers in the Halloween Spirit - Some cool pictures with Googlers from 2000’s Halloween Party.
SEARCH AND DEPLOY - The race to build a better search engine - The New Yorker, May 29, 2000 © Michael Specter 2000. May not be reprinted without permission.
Google’s Zeitgeist 2001 Timeline - A neat Zeitgeist 2001 press timeline with some nice coverage and info’s. Offcourse it’s not public anymore ;)
Google’s 3 Billion mark - Google offers immediate access to 3 billion web documents (December 11, 2001)
Google’s 6 Billion mark - Google offers immediate access to 6 billion web documents (February 17, 2004)
Google’s Adsense launch - Google, developer of the award-winning Google search engine, today announced a new self-service option for Google AdSense, a program that enables website publishers to serve ads precisely targeted to the specific content of their individual web pages (June 18, 2003).
ASK.com begins using Google’s PPC program - Ask Jeeves and Google sign $100 million three-year deal (July 18, 2002).
Yahoo! and Google Join Forces - (Now that’s a FIRST) Yahoo! Everywhere and Google join forces to offer award-winning search technology to wireless Internet users (April 10, 2001).
Google Searches Related to America Under Attack - Google searches, stats and graphs from the 9/11/01 event (page not public anymore).
Google US Puzzle Championship - Is your brain feeling under utilized? Not enough mental challenge in your day job?
Fade PSAs - A suggestion gone extinct.
Papers written by Googlers - A partial list of papers written by people now at Google, showing the range of backgrounds of people in Google Engineering.
Online Business presentation page - Google can help your business make more money (yeah right)… Page not public anymore.
1, 2, 3, 4 - What the heck are these PDF documents ?
Improving Google Adwords - The ideas and the engineers that drive online advertising innovation.
Google.org mirror - Exactly that. This page is a perfect mirror of Google.org.
Ending note
Some of the above pages are no longer linked from any of the current Google pages, so it’s a high probability that very few people know of them. Some are actually pretty interesting and useful, some are fun, and some are really dumb.

Adsense Wisdom

1) You should make your Adsense ads look as a part of your web page. They shouldn't look like an Ad. People are negative to advertising. They search the internet for content not ads. Especially for Banners - they have a less of 0.5% response. Their days are over. Imagine if you have an Adsense ad looking like the typical Banner with different colors. It will not be profitable.

2) Text ads are better than image ads. Like before, people are more responsive to text than images. In a way it is considered as a part of the online document and is more clickable.

3) No Border ads. One of the best tricks is to erase the borders of Adsense ads and make them, again, having the same color with your website's background.

4) No other advertisements. The first reason is to be legitimate according to Google's Rules and the second more practical reason is that you do not want to distract your visitor's attention and go somewhere else without clicking your Adsense ads.

5) Placement. Even if you have the best Ad, people will not respond if they don't see it instantly. The best place to see the ad is the top of your web page and the next is aside your document's text. Visitors will click it more frequently since it will look like your text.

6) Traffic. Try to use legitimate ways of traffic. Some people use Google Adwords and other Pay-per-click search engines. The problem here is to search very carefully for the right niche and keywords in order to make your campaigns profitable. Other ways are link popularity techniques like link exchange directories, software or even mass blog submission techniques. Don't use link farms and classifieds for that, because the search engine's algorithms are extremely clever and they will ban your listings.

7) Do not rely on one website. Yes, you can make money with one website but try to make as more as possible.

8) Relevant content is King. Articles are one of the best tactics to create huge websites that will be crawled by search engine's robots. Don't forget search engines exist to provide relevant content at first. One excellent resource to automate your article directory procedure is http://www.articleequalizer.com .You can create an article database in minutes which otherwise is time consuming and it would take you a week!

9) Use site maps. Google's site maps visit your site and crawl it much sooner that any other submission process. More information is here: http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps

10) Relevant ads. It's one of the most important factors for Adsense success. If the internet user can't find a relevant ad in your page, he or she won't click the ad. Would you act differently? So it's critical to create relevant resource for your web page. In order to do that, you must do the following steps.