Australia autocompleted

Blameitonthevoices has this rather interesting map of the United States of Autocomplete illustrating the first suggestion that comes up when you type the name of each state into google.

So what happens when you do the same thing with the Australian states and territories using Australian google? Here are the results.

Australian Capital Territory legislation

Western Australian newspaper

South Australian Government

Victoria secret

New South Wales public holidays

Queensland transport

Northern Territory News

Tasmanian Devil

Hmmm, I wonder what that tells us about New South Wales – and what a secretive bunch those Victorians appear to be. For Australia, by the way, we currently  get Australia Post, and for our neighbour, New Zealand earthquake.

All of which got us wondering, what suggestions do you get when you type “Australia” into some foreign google engines? The results range from the banal to the WTF:

UK google: Australia visa

Google Russia: Australia Luxe Collective

Google Ireland: Australian visa

Sweden: Australian shepherd

Denmark: Australian bar

China: Australia open

Ukraine: Australia immigration

Germany: Australia shepherd

Italy: Australia film

Greece: Australian embassy Greece

Japan: Australia post

Libya: Australian universities

Spain: Australia blonde

Portugal: Australia jobs

Switzerland: Australia election

Austria: Australian shepherd

Belgium: Australian open

Hungary: Australian gold

Israel: Australia time

Saudi Arabia: Australian National University

Pakistan: Australian immigration

Egypt: Australian embassy in Cairo

Palestine: Australian embassy in Israel

Brazil: Australian gold

Argentian: Australia pelicula (film)

Mexico: Australia wikipedia

South Africa: Australian embassy South Africa

Nigeria: Australian universities

Estonia: Australian gold

Serbia: Australia open

Turkey: Australia National University

India: Australia immigration

Indonesia: Australia embassy Jakarta

Poland: Australia film

Sri Lanka: Australian migration

UAE: Australia immigration

Malaysia: Australia map

Thailand: Australia embassy Bangkok

A few conclusions:  

There is enormous irony in the fact that the number one autosuggest for Australia in Germany is a dog breed I had never heard of called the Australian Shepherd – when the German Shepherd has been one of the most popular dog breeds in Australia for years. According to wiki, the Australian Shepherd, which looks like a cross between a border collie and a blue heeler, “did not originate in Australia. They acquired their name because of association with Basque sheepherders who came to the United States from Australia.” Okay then.

The number one autocomplete for Australia on Russian google is Australian Luxe Collective – a fashion label I have never heard of, and appearing to be doing most of their marketing internationally. Good luck to them.

The other thing we learn is that tennis is huge, with the Australian Open figuring prominently on many international searches. I was a little surprised to see “Australia film” turn up in some searches, but think this must be a search for the godawful Baz Luhrmann film of that name.

The Australian bar is not a rectangular block of vegemite flavoured muesli, as one might have hoped, but apparently a happening nightclub in Denmark.

We learn something about the economy in Portugal, with their number one search suggestion being “Australia jobs” and Spain, where they have given up completely: “Australia blonde”.

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