Google economy The ‘Google economy’, the wider economic activity triggered by searches on Google, is now estimated to be worth more than $100bn. All of this rests on a set of algorithms. FT.com asks whether Google’s mathematical model is helping, or shaping, the world around it
Interactive graphic showing how the world’s three biggest technology companies – Apple, Microsoft and Google – compete with each other
Google wields tremendous power to make or break businesses on the web. Through the secret algorithm that determines which web pages show up most prominently in its search results, it can bring a flood of traffic to other sites – or cast them into the online equivalent of Siberia
Not all the results that appear high up on Google’s results pages are there because a dispassionate algorithm has filtered them out from a mass of less relevant material on the web
As its influence grows across the web, Google’s algorithm is starting to shape the world it describes
Professional criminals are increasingly likely to outflank legitimate companies in competing for Google’s algorithmic attention, security professionals say
‘Search neutrality’ becomes the rallying cry of activists who believe the search engine has too much power to decide which internet sites are granted the attention that comes with a high ranking
For a company renowned for its lack of openness, Google has been working hard to smooth over concerns about the functioning of its search technology
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