What Time Does The Super Bowl Start? Superbowl XLVI, that is? What time is kickoff?

Answer: well, the official start time is 5:30 Central. But, you know, that’s probably when they start the introductions and National Anthem and coin toss and all that stuff. So probably more like 5:50.

Although you may want to tune in at 5:30, just in case. Be sure you go to the bathroom first. You don’t wanna miss any commercials!

Why am I writing about this?

What Time Does The Super Bowl Start, He Wrote As A Headline To Game The Google Results

In perhaps the most legendary act of SEO trolling ever, last year the Huffington Post ran an article titled simply “What Time Does The Superbowl Start?” It listed the start time of the game, and little else.

It existed for the sole purpose of garnering internet search traffic from the thousands of people Googling “what time does the superbowl start?” It was perfectly planned, right down to the intentional use of “Superbowl” as one word—just what the random person would search for, but not the actual name of the Super Bowl. For days before the game, it was the number one search result, and still is, even though it hasn’t been useful since last February. The post was sinister and dumb and ruthless and brilliant, and a good indicator of why the HuffPo’s traffic numbers are so insane.

Brilliant. Although, without any real content, there’s very little chance of earning any follow-up traffic.

Ann Althouse adds:

Part of the strategy is the missing space. It should be: Superb Owl.

That’s a great idea, too. Hey, I’m the guy who’s gotten over 500 hits all-time from people searching for “swine flew.”

UPDATE - check out my incoming traffic summary today:

It works!