Google and the Summer Games 2008

Google uses a clever way to promote some of its tools that let you find the latest information about the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The homepage doodle links to a search that triggers a special OneBox for medal count.


Google's OneBox includes a link to an iGoogle gadget that shows schedules, results, and medal counts. There's also a Google News section for the Summer Games.

Other searches that trigger Google OneBoxes: sport, olympic sport (e.g.: olympic boxing or simply boxing), olympic country (e.g.: olympic china). The OneBoxes are also available on Google's mobile search site, where you can search for similar keywords or use a list of sports.


When you search for [summer games], there's an ad that asks you to "stay up to date on the summer games using Google". The ad links to a page that promotes the iGoogle gadget mentioned above, a YouTube channel with news from Associated Press, NY Times, EuroNews and a Google Maps mashup that shows the locations of the Olympics events.

Google Blogoscoped points to a Chinese version of the landing page, which promotes more Google services, including the new Google SMS Alerts (English translation). The new service, available only in Chinese, sends free text messages with information about weather, medal counts and results.