An article from “The Register” reveals that employees would adjust the results, supposed to be automatic, of the engine.
You think that the results displayed by Google are only the result of an algorithm ? This may not be entirely true, according to an article in The Register. The British site specializing in new technologies claims to have got its hands on a manual for 160 pages intended for those who would be loaded, at Google, to complete or adjust the results of the work of the famous algorithm. A real bomb, if it was true, because the balance of the Web and many economic models are based on the famous code, named PageRank. Contacted Tuesday and Wednesday, Google declined to comment..
However, The Register may have gotten a little carried away. Google has been using humans for its PageRank improvement work for years. In the video below (in English), posted last May, Matt Cutts, head of the engine results quality team, explains how this process takes place : “They are not at all there to directly influence the ranking of search results”, he says. According to him, these would rather be used to test the adjustments of the algorithm, via offline systems that do not impact internet users’ searches.
Too much power for Google ?
The manual obtained by The Register could well be that of these “judges”, who decide which improvement of the algorithm will be put online or not. Every year, Google makes more than five hundred changes to its very expensive code, or one or two per day : enough to do many tests !
Google's algorithm is probably one of the best kept secrets in the world. All websites try to do “go back up” their identity in the results pages, sometimes at the cost of very expensive developments via consulting companies, specialized in SEO. During a major PageRank update, named Panda, Google had created a strong controversy by relegating sites to the bottom of the page, thus dividing their number of visitors and therefore their income. The observers were then moved : by judging the quality of the content, Google arrogates to itself a power that is not good to entrust to a private company, dependent exclusively on its advertising revenue.
At any rate, rumor has it that PageRank don't be alone in charge : It remains to be seen to what extent humans intervene. But Google will never tell, because it very often takes refuge behind the automatic nature of search results. This allows him not to be held (too much) responsible by the authorities if a neo-Nazi or pedophile site appears at the top of the page. Same when companies or personalities see their official page appear lower than parody sites. Unless a defector speaks, PageRank will likely remain as mysterious as the area 51.
Le Point.fr – Published on 28/11/2012 à 18:40 By GUERRIC PONCET