Google to Share Search Secrets

By Greg McNevin

May 26, 2008: In a bid to promote greater search transparency, Google is preparing to give greater access to the inner workings of its jealously guarded search algorithm.

According to Google vice president of engineering, Udi Manber, the company has traditionally kept its algorithm under wraps due to competition concerns, and from fear that some people would use the information to abuse and “game” the system.

However, Manber says that the company is making a renewed effort to be more open, and greater search transparency is an important part of this.

“A few hundreds of millions of times a day people will ask Google questions, and within a fraction of a second Google needs to decide which among the billions of pages on the web to show them -- and in what order,” writes Manber on the official Google blog.

“For something that is used so often by so many people, surprisingly little is known about ranking at Google. This is entirely our fault, and it is by design.”

Manber did not detail exactly how open Google was going to be with its search technology, but will be elaborating in future blog posts.

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