On Wikipedia, the
Google Test is looking something up on
Google. This can be:
- as a quick and rough to check that something actually exists (we get articles about things that don't... personal theories, personal fictions etc) See the Check your fiction policy for more.
- Q. What is the minimum number of matches you should see if the term is not made up? ( 3, 27, 81 )? A couple hundred perhaps!
- A. That depends on the article's point of view. If narrow, fewer references are required. Try to categorize the point of view, ( whether it is NPOV, or other) eg: notice the difference between Ontology (philosophy) and Ontology (computer science).
- as a quick and rough check for copyright. When a new or IP user submits a large chunk of text, it's a good idea to be mildly suspicious and "Google test" a few 10-word or so segments.
It should be stressed that neither of these applications is conclusive evidence, but simply a first-pass heuristic.