Google has taken dead aim and this time the target is Wikipedia. On the Google blog, the company announced a new product that could challenge Wikipedia's lock on digital knowledge.

Christened "Knol," the new product will invite "people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it," said Udi Manber, a Google engineer involved in the project.

Google will not serve as an editor, but unlike Wikipedia, the entries will not be edited by the community, either. Google also said authors who contribute will be identified by name. For authors that agree to include ads in their entries, Google said it plans to arrange a revenue split.

If Google is successful in providing a Wikipedia alternative, that ad revenue split could potentially be huge. According to recent numbers from Nielsen Online, Wikipedia had 107 million visitors in October. But despite Wikipedia's popularity, the site, which allows for community editing, has often been criticized for its inaccuracy.

"We believe that knowing who wrote what will significantly help users make better use of web content," Manber said.

TechCrunch, which has early screenshots of Knol, called the announcement a potential game-changer in the online reference market. However, Wikipedia isn't exactly standing still. In November, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales announced his wiki-style search engine, which he dubbed "Google's worst nightmare."