How do I make Google beep?
The Google beep sound refers to an iconic quirk in the search engine where typing certain keywords will trigger a beeping sound effect. This sound effect became popular during the early days of Google, often delighting users who stumbled upon it. The beep serves no functional purpose but became known as a “Google Easter egg” – hidden features or jokes in software.
The Google beep is nostalgic for many longtime Google users. Finding ways to make Google beep takes people back to the playful early days of the search engine. It reminds them of a more lighthearted time on the internet. The beep sound effect is hard to trigger today, so getting Google to beep poses an intriguing challenge. Overall, the Google beep represents a little bit of harmless fun and creativity in an otherwise straightforward search engine.
Verify Your Google Version
Before trying to make Google beep, it’s important to verify you have a version of Google that contains this easter egg. The “beep” easter egg was removed in newer versions of Google, so it likely won’t work if your Google search page looks modern and updated.
To check your Google version, look at the search page layout and design. If it has a sparse white background without many decorative elements, you likely have a newer version of Google that doesn’t contain the beep easter egg. This source indicates the beep easter egg was removed around 2010 as Google’s layout became cleaner and more minimalist.
If your Google page still has some decorative elements like colorful buttons or images in the background, you may have an older version that contains the beep easter egg. The 1998-2010 period is when Google still included fun hidden surprises like making the page beep.
Search for ‘Zerg Rush’
One of the most well-known ways to make Google beep is by searching for the term ‘Zerg Rush’. This triggers an Easter egg in Google based on the real-time strategy video game StarCraft. Typing ‘Zerg Rush’ into the Google search bar and hitting enter unleashes an 8-bit zerglings animation across the screen along with beeping sounds. The zerglings from the game start eating away at the search results, and you have to move your mouse cursor over them to destroy them before they consume all the text on screen. If you don’t stop them fast enough, the screen will display “You Failed” in large text.
According to ScreenRant, this easter egg has been around since 2010 when Google programmers added it as a fun homage to StarCraft. It surprises and delights fans of the classic real-time strategy game by bringing an element of it into the Google interface. The beeping sounds and retro pixelated zerglings rushing across the screen make for a playful interactive animation you wouldn’t expect from a search engine.
Search for ‘Anagram’
One of the more popular and long-standing Google easter eggs can be discovered by searching for the word “anagram.” When you type this word into the Google search bar and hit enter, the search results page will display “Did you mean: nag a ram,” which itself is an anagram of the word anagram. If you then click on the suggestion to search for “nag a ram,” the search results page will play a short beep sound effect.
This easter egg demonstrates Google’s sense of humor and personality. By detecting that the user searched for the word “anagram” and then suggesting the anagrammatic phrase “nag a ram,” Google is showing that its algorithms are advanced enough to identify anagrams and modify search suggestions accordingly. The beep that plays after searching for the suggested phrase adds an unexpected auditory flourish.
To trigger this easter egg yourself, simply search Google for the word “anagram.” When it suggests “Did you mean: nag a ram,” go ahead and click on that suggestion. The page will reload and play a quick beep sound effect. Try searching for other anagrams of the word google, like “elgoog” or “gogoel,” to trigger additional beeps.
Search for ‘Blink HTML’
One of the most well known Google Easter eggs is to search for the term “blink html”. When you search for this term, the words “blink” and “html” will blink on and off in the search results (Source). This is a reference to the deprecated <blink> HTML tag, which would make text blink in early web browsers.
The blink HTML Easter egg includes a snippet of blink HTML code in the search results that actually makes the page beep when rendered in certain browsers like Chrome. The code looks like this:
<blink><b>Blink</b> & <b>HTML</b>! <audio autoplay><source src=”https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6-7KDU6-qyg/URqu8L-k07I/AAAAAAAAAAA/EjVuPvBaxV4/s500/beep.ogg” type=”audio/ogg” /></audio></blink>
When this snippet renders, the words “Blink” and “HTML” will blink repeatedly while playing a beeping sound. It’s a fun little Easter egg that shows Google’s sense of humor with web technology.
Search for ‘Recursion’
Searching for the word “recursion” on Google triggers an amusing easter egg. Entering “recursion” as the search term results in a recursive search results page that causes a beeping sound to play on repeat.
As the page loads, Google suggests “Did you mean: recursion” which leads back to the original search results. This creates an endless loop of the word “recursion” that also triggers a beeping sound each time the page refreshes.
According to The Complete Google Easter Eggs List That Will Make You …, this easter egg highlights Google’s sense of humor. The beeping sounds continue until the user stops the recursive search manually.
Search for ‘Askew’
One of the most popular Google easter eggs is searching for the word ‘Askew’. When you search for ‘Askew’, the results page will tilt slightly and make a beeping sound when clicked. This is a fun easter egg that has been around for many years.
To try it out, simply search for the word ‘Askew’ in Google. You’ll notice the results page is tilted counterclockwise. If you click anywhere on the page, you’ll hear a beeping sound. This easter egg adds an amusing level of interactivity to the normally straightforward Google results page.
The origins of the ‘Askew’ easter egg aren’t totally clear, but it’s been speculated that it’s a reference to a scene in the Pixar movie Toy Story 2 where the character Wheezy gets his squeaker fixed and makes a beeping sound. Regardless of the origins, it’s a delightful easter egg that shows off Google’s fun side.
Search for ‘Barrel Roll’
Typing “do a barrel roll” or simply “barrel roll” into the Google search box and hitting enter will cause the results page to rotate 360 degrees while making a beeping sound, before settling back to normal. This fun easter egg adds a playful surprise to searching on Google.
According to “Play \”Do A Barrel Roll\” 20 Times on Google”, “The \”Do a Barrel Roll\” Easter egg is a playful feature on Google that makes the search results page perform a 360-degree somersault.” It’s a classic Google easter egg that has delighted users for years.
Search for ‘Zerg Rush’ on Mobile
While searching for ‘Zerg Rush’ on Google on your mobile browser will trigger the fun zerglings animation just like on desktop, it unfortunately won’t make your phone beep. This is because mobile devices don’t support the HTML5 Audio API required to play sounds in the browser (Play “Zerg Rush” by Google).
Instead, searching for ‘Zerg Rush’ on mobile will flood your screen with tiny zerglings characters from the Starcraft game that you can tap and drag around. It’s still an amusing easter egg, just without the beeping sounds. This makes it more discreet if you want to prank someone using the Zerg Rush easter egg in a public place from your phone.
Easter Egg Limitations
Many of Google’s fun easter eggs that would trigger sounds no longer work due to updates Google has made over the years. For example, searching for “zerg rush” used to trigger an 8-bit style mini game, but this easter egg was removed in 2012 according to https://support.google.com/websearch/thread/192243762/google-beep-gone?hl=en
In general, Google has scaled back or removed many of their classic audio easter eggs. Using the Chrome browser seems to be the best way to still experience some of the remaining easter eggs that can trigger sounds.
According to https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/78498/why-did-my-gchat-easter-egg-animations-stop-working, Google has slowly phased out easter eggs in many of their products, sometimes without notice. So experiences may vary depending on browser and device.