How to Pull Off the "No Results" Google Prank

Shock your friends with this clever practical joke on Google

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Last Updated: June 11, 2024 Tested

Do you want to prank your friends/coworkers using Google? There is a URL trick which makes it appear as though there are no results for a search term, and it baffles anyone who doesn't know about it.

Things You Should Know

Begin by conducting a traditional Google search.
Add "&num=0" to the end of the Google search result's URL to limit the number of results to zero.
Show this new URL to the person you want to prank.

Steps

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Go to Google.
Search for a popular search term. This could be anything from "linux" to "real estate". It doesn't have to be extremely popular, just common enough that there will be quite a few listings.

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This forces Google to limit the number of results, in this case, to 0. Using a negative number instead will also work.
You can accomplish this in a variety of ways, including emailing them the link, or just showing them your computer screen. The person will likely be very surprised, and may call their friends over to see.
Conduct a search for something if the people being pranked start to worry. Once you conduct a search in the search box, it will show all results normally and you can laugh at them.

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Tips

You can use the &num= trick with other numbers, like to make it look as though there is one result.

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There are also tricks that accomplish the same feat involving Boolean search terms, though this method is easier to conceal.

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Use the Date Range method for people who don't know much about Google syntax.

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Warnings

Avoid showing this to people who know a lot about Google, as they will know how you did it.

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If you email the link, they may notice the code at the end.

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If you show this to people, tell them how it works so they won't think there is a problem. You wouldn't want someone calling tech support about this.

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