Argumentum ad Google is a logical fallacy in which one references the amount of Internet material available in relation to the validity of an argument. The name is derived from the popular search engine Google.

The technique is fallacious because it does not examine the actual content of the websites linked to by the web search. For example, if somebody is debating the topic of abortion and argues the pro-life stance by searching for the terms "pro choice" and "pro life," one would see the amount of results of a Google search to be 262,000,000 and 607,000,000, respectively. To presume that the disparity in results lends greater credibility to a particular argument is fallacious -- the search engine simply returns all results that contain those terms; the results do not necessarily have any relevance to the argument at hand.

Additionally, the amount of results obtained by searching for terms related to an argument is irrelevant to the argument itself. To argue otherwise would constitute a Argumentum ad populum fallacy.

Examples

See the following 124,000 results that come up when I search for my position? They all support it.

A Google search shows millions of links about Sherlock Holmes, clearly he must have existed.

Why does nothing show up from a simple Google search on that if it is so?

See also

Argumentum ad populum

Appeal to authority