How Does Google Autocomplete ‘El Paso is…’?

When you start typing something into Google, it will automatically come up with suggestions for you to autocomplete what you're typing. How does it work? According to Google:

You’ll notice we call these autocomplete “predictions” rather than “suggestions,” and there’s a good reason for that. Autocomplete is designed to help people complete a search they were intending to do, not to suggest new types of searches to be performed. These are our best predictions of the query you were likely to continue entering.

How do we determine these predictions? We look at the real searches that happen on Google and show common and trending ones relevant to the characters that are entered and also related to your location and previous searches.

So, what does it come up with when you start typing "El Paso is...". First thing is you have to get passed the "El Paso ISD". If you don't put a space after the "s", all the options are "El Paso ISD" related. But after that, here is what we're looking at.

• el paso is found in what region of texas
• el paso is in what time zone
• el paso is it safe
• el paso is known for
• el paso is the oldest city in texas
• el paso is the safest city
• el paso is mountain time
• el paso is a dump
• el paso is already great

Out of all of these options, the one that intrigued me most was "el paso is the oldest city in texas." What happens if you follow this link? You get this explanation:

Ysleta, now part of the city of El Paso, has been continuously occupied since 1682 when the Tigua Indians came here from their pueblo at Isleta, New Mexico. The Handbook of Texas says with a touch of reservation that Ysleta “is perhaps the oldest town in Texas.”