See who is Googling Surefire

aggiegrads

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Feb 2, 2007
Messages
102
Location
Sunnyvale, CA
I was bored yesterday, and found Google Trends. It is a feature in Google where you can see where (geographically) searches on certain topics are coming from.

I searched on "Surefire" and the results were very interesting:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=surefire

The vast majority of searches are coming from Iraq. This tells me where Surefire's bread and butter are coming from.
 

lexina

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 3, 2005
Messages
782
Thanks for the info - it's a very interesting feature and turns up some surprising results on various search terms.

Btw, I am sure that those in Iraq were not googling "Surefire" as in "Surefire flashlights"!
 

LukeA

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 3, 2007
Messages
4,399
Location
near Pittsburgh
Btw, I am sure that those in Iraq were not googling "Surefire" as in "Surefire flashlights"!

Well, considering that 8 of the ten top results from a Google search for 'surefire' are for Surefire flashlights, I'd have to disagree.
 

NickDrak

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 17, 2007
Messages
238
Location
Chicago
Btw, I am sure that those in Iraq were not googling "Surefire" as in "Surefire flashlights"!

QUE !?!


Everyone that I know over there, along with nearly every picture of any Soldier, Marine etc. in battle in Iraq/Afghan wears a SF weaponlight on their rifle/carbines. It seems that the demand for SF lights over there is off the charts.
 
Last edited:

Paladin

Enlightened
Joined
Feb 2, 2006
Messages
585
offtopic, but try "sex" :thinking:

When my HVAC unit died, I tried searching online for "heat pump". There were certainly some sites that would raise one's body temperature in the results. One site was even "suggested" by my ISP, and the customer service lady at GTE.net called me back and said..."Oh my word!!!":crackup:

Searching "Surefire" on ebay returns a good amount of non-flashlight related returns sometimes.

Paladin
 

lexina

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 3, 2005
Messages
782
Well, considering that 8 of the ten top results from a Google search for 'surefire' are for Surefire flashlights, I'd have to disagree.

what i meant was, if you narrow the search to "Surefire Flashlights", the top result is US, as expected, and not Iraq
 

aggiegrads

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Feb 2, 2007
Messages
102
Location
Sunnyvale, CA
what i meant was, if you narrow the search to "Surefire Flashlights", the top result is US, as expected, and not Iraq
It seems to me that searching on "surefire flashlights" is like searching for "Microsoft software" or "Sony electronics". It is redundant, and "surefire flashlight" only recently had enough volume to even be tracked.
 

lexina

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 3, 2005
Messages
782
It seems to me that searching on "surefire flashlights" is like searching for "Microsoft software" or "Sony electronics". It is redundant, and "surefire flashlight" only recently had enough volume to even be tracked.

Not so. "Microsoft" and "Sony" are both unique proprietary names and not words with any meaning, unlike "surefire". Even in the link you posted, only 1 out of the 6 news items referred to Surefire flashlights.
 

Icebreak

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 14, 2002
Messages
4,998
Location
by the river
Sig Sauer and Heckler Koch are Iraq but Beretta is Italy.

I'm interested to know that when I type in my first name it shows that I'm hugely popular in Iceland.
 

RadarGreg

Enlightened
Joined
May 10, 2002
Messages
453
Location
Bamberg
Surefire has a list of National Stock Numbers listed on their website. I'd imagine most GIs in Iraq and Afghanistan are looking to see what NSNs are available and if they can be ordered. The problem is many of the stock numbers are coded in such a way to make ordering them difficult. Not impossible, but not easy either.
 

Sarratt

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 22, 2006
Messages
473
Location
Ottawa, Ont. Canada
I've always wondered if my name had been Googled by anyone. When I checked it said there were not enough searches to warrant a graph.

*whew*

It did get me wondering though if there was a way to find out if anyone was looking for me.
Anyone know if thats possible ?
 

cutlerylover

Banned
Joined
Oct 5, 2006
Messages
1,147
Location
Pennsylvania, USA
looks like it works...I tried Zippo and #1 was Japan...and I know as a collector that the Japanese love Zippos more than us americans, lol...makes you wonder which country really likes apple pie and baseball more than us...probably Japan too, lol...:laughing:
 

BB

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 17, 2003
Messages
2,129
Location
SF Bay Area
You do know that once you type your name in Google Search you have tied your name to that IP address (and computer if you have cookies enabled). :poof:

That is how folks were compromised when (***not Google***) released (Sorry, it was AOL that released this data -BB) a whole bunch of searches before that included names and social security numbers.

Being paranoid is a lot of hard work. :crazy:

-Bill
 
Last edited:

flashlite

Enlightened
Joined
May 10, 2004
Messages
386
Location
PA
Interesting.

Type in "uranium enrichment" and Iran come up #1
Type in "centrifuge" and S. Korea come up #4 with Iran at #9
Type in "IED" and Baghdad comes up #1

(The FBI should be at my door any minute now)
 
Top