"For something that is used so often by so many people, surprisingly little is known about ranking at Google. This is entirely our fault, and it is by design. We are, to be honest, quite secretive about what we do." So says Udi Manber, Google's vice president of engineering and search quality. Yet in this blog post, Manber acknowledges that the veil of secrecy around Google's ranking algorithms hasn't completely been in the giant's best interest, and sheds some light on the people and processes behind positioning on the SERPs.

Seems like an odd question, given the fact that there hasn't been much news out of the Ask camp regarding core search innovation (heck, not even a blog post since February!). But a recent Webmaster World forums thread reveals that some site owners have been seeing changes in their Ask rankings, and Navneet Kaushal rounds them up as proof that there may be an algorithmic shake-up going on. "We have seen large jumps from Ask the last two weeks, most significantly this last Friday," wrote one forum member. "About a 40% increase in traffic since Friday. Ask normally …

There are a number of tools you can use to improve your Wikipedia search experience--after all, there are now over 10 million articles in more than 250 languages. Wikiwix, for example, searches multiple Wikipedia sites for the same query (including Wikiionary, Wikiquote and Wikinews), and also offers an image search option. Qwika makes it easy to search across entries of differing languages, while the mobile-focused AskMeNow applies some natural language search parameters to a query and then crawls the entire Wikipedia index.

Andy Beal offers some quick commentary on the New York Times article that digs into the antitrust hurdles that Google and Yahoo will likely have to clear to move any outsourced search deal forward. <br><br> Beal says that the two giants will have to deal more with legislators' perceptions of whether Google is too dominant on its own--than whether the deal is really anti-competitive.  

Roger Janik pulls together bits and pieces of info from around the Web to offer a comprehensive view of the aftershocks various Webmasters reported from Google's most recent algorithmic update. The tweaks ushered in some of the most visible search ranking changes in months. In general, Janik says that many of the "quality old sites that we love and nurture suddenly disappeared from the top ranking positions to pages in the tens or twenties of the index. This very unfortunate fact sent many SEO's into panic mode." A number of users also reported seeing results that …

"Make a list of your 10 top keywords, and then use them throughout your press release," says Maureen Michaels. "That way, when editors, writers and others search for those keywords, your press release will be found and read in search results." That's the foundation for crafting an SEO-ready press release. Of course, Michaels says that you need to start off with a compelling lead, but the key is to keep searcher activity in mind from the onset. Michaels also suggests including an image, if possible, as it will help your release get picked up by the …

Russian search engine Yandex is set to go public via NASDAQ this fall, with the hopes of raising up to $2 billion. Erick Schonfeld dubs it "the biggest tech IPO of 2008," as Yandex is currently the leading search engine in Russia. According to comScore data, Yandex reaches some 62% of the Russian Internet audience--and they spend an average of 90 minutes with the engine each month. Search volume also puts the engine ahead of Microsoft and Yahoo in Europe--behind only Google and eBay.

"The image search giants (Google images, Yahoo images and even Flickr) represent rather a poor example of image search usability (to my mind)," says Ann Smarty. "Luckily we have a number of good examples (still none of them is perfect)." Take Picitup, for example. The engine offers multiple filtering options, including search by faces, landscapes, products or color preference, while Snap.com gives users a list of choices on the left, with an image preview and characteristic info (like file size) on the right. And Oskope pulls images in from Yahoo, Flickr, Fotolia and others, while allowing searchers to …

There's a simple formula for crafting effective copy quickly. It's HSPA, an acronym for Headline, Pain, Solution, Action. "HSPA works for any kind of ad," Angela Booth says. "From a simple classified ad to a long direct response sales letter, whether for the Web or print." Start by making a list of the benefits of your product--i.e. the reasons your target audience should buy it. If your hotel has a pool and on-site babysitting service, sell the fact that families can keep cool together and parents can enjoy some alone time when they're ready. Once you …