From the New York Times
Technology Section
June 2, 2008
The Humans Behind the Google Money Machine
By Miguel Helft
June 2, 2008
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — If Google were the United States government, the data that streams onto Nicholas Fox’s laptop every day would be classified as top secret.
... “I wouldn’t quite go so far as to say we are recession-proof,” said Hal R. Varian, Google’s chief economist. “But we are recession-resistant.”
... So Mr. Varian and Diane Tang, principal engineer in the ads quality group, helped devise what they call a basket of keywords. Much like the consumer price index, a basket of goods and services that economists use to track inflation, the measure is made up of a broad sample of keywords and is weighted to make it statistically accurate. This internal benchmark helps Google get a clearer picture of its performance.