The Open Index / Google For Dummies

The Open Index

Technical Stuff

All search engines operate by building an index of both Web pages and the content of those pages. This index is constructed with the help of bots (software robots), sometimes called spiders or crawlers. The index is every search engine’s prime asset, the ever-shifting body of information that the engine matches against your keywords to deliver results. The formula that each search site uses to compile and search the index is a closely guarded secret.

Although Google doesn’t breathe a word about its indexing formulas, it does do something else that’s unprecedented and exciting. Google has released its application programming interface (API) to the public. APIs enable software programmers to incorporate one program or body of data into another program. For example, Microsoft releases its Windows APIs to authorized developers who write stand-alone Windows software. Google’s API lets software geniuses write programs that can access Google’s index directly, bypassing the familiar interface at Google’s site.

The public API is more important than it might seem at first. In the short time that the API has been available, many alternatives to Google have sprung up, each a legitimate and authorized new method of Googling. A few people have created instant-message conduits to Google, so you can launch a search while chatting in certain IM programs. Some graphic presentations of Google search results are being developed that are, frankly, mind-blowing. These and many other Google stunts are explored in Chapters 14 and 15.

Google’s expansion through third-party development lends variety to the search experience that is basically a rather drab chore — no matter how skillfully accomplished. And, like other Google innovations, the public API will probably serve to drive Google even deeper into the mass consciousness of the Internet community. Google will take over your soul. This, too, is a good thing.