Google: “Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer . . . “

The full message is :

Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network. Please try your request again later. Why did this happen?
IP address: <************>
Time: 2015-06-25T17:22:00Z
URL: http://www.google.com/

My initial reaction was that this was one of those “infected computer” malware scams. I won’t tell you all the things I did, but here’s what I found —

  • The problem occurs when I do a number range search in Google, in the format <string> <a>..<b>, where <a> and <b> are 100000 or more. Remember that for a number range search the two numbers are connected by two dots, with no spaces.
  • Here are some examples, with the numbers specified with various values and formats. Examples that produce the error message above don’t generate usable links, so you’ll have to enter them manually (copy-paste)  —
    • [cities 99999..111111]
    • [cities 100000..111111] [just change “99999” to “100000”]
    • use other values for <string>, <a>, and <b>
    • use commas in the numbers, —
    • use numbers with commas and decimals —
      • [cities 100,000.01..111,111.11]

Hey, Google — Please provide some consistency or better guidance for number range searches.

Friends in other places, using different isps, computers, browsers, etc., have gotten results similar to those above.

BTW—I learned about number-range searches years ago, when GoogleGuide author Nancy Blachman spoke to SPAUG.

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