Google and Its Methods: Controlled Chaos and Legal Counsel
March 27, 2011
The Register ran an interesting story “Google Contradicts Own Counsel in Face of Antitrust Probe.” The issue is how Google determines what a user sees in a results list. The story covers a number of complicated issues. These are far beyond the ken of a Harrod’s Creek goose. Now I have no idea what is accurate and what is waffling. One point is that Google supplements its numerical recipes with a little help from the humans at Google. Interesting. After wading through Google’s patent applications, I had the mistaken impression that Google’s methods relied upon math. Guess I was wrong. Manual intervention and presenting information that is different from what certain Google representatives asserted surprised me. Numerical recipes are supposed to be consistent, maybe more consistent than Googlers. What’s clear is that Google’s use of controlled chaos as a management method creates a lot of work for those who have to figure what Googlers say is accurate at any point in time.
Tough job, and one that is important to outfits like companies dependent on Google for revenue, the search engine optimization crowd who make a living spoofing the GOOG, and the Google itself which needs AdWords revenues. Tough balancing act. Are there any winds blowing that will make keeping balance difficult? Will controlled chaos triumph over what seems to be some inconsistency?
Stephen E Arnold, March 27, 2011
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