Google Opens Up (Some) Search Algorithms

overmars writes "After years of closely guarding the formula for its search algorithms, Google is opening up a little. The search engine company has kept its search formula a closely guarded secret for two reasons: competition and to prevent abuse, said Udi Manber, Google's vice president of engineering, search quality, in a post on the corporate blog. Manber said the blog post is the first part of a renewed effort at the company 'to open up a bit more than we have in the past.' Manber said the most famous part of Google's ranking algorithm is PageRank, an algorithm developed by Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. While PageRank is still in use, it is a 'part of a much larger system,' he said. 'Other parts include language models (the ability to handle phrases, synonyms, diacritics, spelling mistakes, and so on), query models (it's not just the language, it's how people use it today), time models (some queries are best answered with a 30-minutes old page, and some are better answered with a page that stood the test of time), and personalized models (not all people want the same thing),' he said."

Dont do it Google!

[FudRucker]

As long as Microsoft wants to dominate the search engine market at the expense of Google, Yahoo and anyone else that gets in the way (knowing Microsoft's track record of abusive & dirty underhanded methods). I would keep that a secret to protect the intertubes from the likes of Microsoft.

Re:What exactly is open?

[Anonymous Coward]

Right. And the competitors already know pieces of what Google has, as a result of the inevitable stream of engineers leaving to take new jobs. Particularly at SV startups founded by ex-Googlers.

While Rob Enderle puts the matter trollishly, I agree with the thrust of what he says. Google has been given a free pass on this. Their main product/service is definitely not open source, or free software, and in fact is less open that most of Microsoft's products (for example). At least with Windows and .Net, we can obtain detailed documentation on APIs, tools, and (often) internal architecture. Sponsoring "summer of code" is a tiny contribution compared with the size of their revenues and profits, comparable to the PR-wise philanthropic programs of your typical Fortune 500 company.

License?

[Bootarn]

Under which license is the algorithms being released? If it's a BSD-like license, MS will probably be all over it, but if it's a GPL license, it may be harder for them to claim the algorithms as their own, since they'll have to open up their own code.
At least that's what I think.

consider the Pagerank important

[voodoosws]

Accordingly, we must still consider the Pagerank important because it is the only part of the algorithm which we know and we know how to raise it. This is for all those who thought they no longer served the Pagerank for positioning in search engines.

Re:Dont do it Google!

[Daengbo]

In reality, I'm sure Google's leadership has done some heavy analysis on exactly how much openness benefits them.
and
The search engine company has kept its search formula a closely guarded secret for two reasons: competition and to prevent abuse

Security through obscurity isn't a good plan, and Google knows that.

Mystified by 'the google"

[gary_7vn]

I have a terrible admission to make. I, among other things, design websites. Yet, when I search for me on the google, I don't come up. I use relevant terms that are all over my site, and in the metadata (although I understand they don't really matter anymore), yet my own personal site does not come up, even though the url has been up and running for 8 years. The final straw was when I did a search for web design, Ottawa, and a newly opened competitor (just around the corner actually) came up on the second page. I spent the last couple of days researching this (again) and I seem to be meeting all of googles requirements. I have never used a sleazy SEO company, my content is consistent and legal. What's up with that?

Re:Dont do it Google!

[Anonymous Coward]

I took one course in Information Retrieval, and I could come up with most of these things with an evening or two of brainstorming, at least on a general level like this.

Coming up with things is easy; implementing them is hard. Any average Joe Sixpack can come up with the idea of a flying car in five seconds, but to actually build one is another matter entirely - and doing so in a commercially viable way is yet another matter.

Remember what Edison said about inspiration and perspiration?