The Secret of Google's Search Algorithm: People?

A Technology Review interview of Google’s Director of Research Peter Norvig has set off a flurry of speculation about how Google gets the results it does.

In this interview, Norvig discusses consultants that Google hires to review and rate search results. The question left dangling is whether or not the ratings and suggestions of these reviewers have a bearing on the specific search results that they rate.

It’s a question of whether Google’s algorithm is purely mathematical or if results are at least partially determined by people (as they are in directory sites like Yahoo).

To learn more, read this great post at the New York Times and this one from Read Write Web.