For those who want to know more about search, there's probably no better resource than Udi Manber, Google's VP in charge search quality. A veteran of Amazon and Yahoo, Manber seldom gives interviews, but recently he shared a small fraction of what he knows with Popular Mechanics. 

While most of the Q&A revolved around search from the user perspective, Manber did have a message for publishers and advertisers hoping to improve their search rankings.

"I wish people would put more effort into thinking about how other people will find them and putting the right keywords onto their pages," he said, stopping short of giving any specific advice.

As for the question of how Google refines search, Manber offered a glimpse inside the company's operations, saying that it does not change results manually, but instead looks to recalibrate its algorithm when its engineers find poor results. That's noteworthy because as Google has rolled out universal search, there have been rumblings about favoritism for companies like YouTube, which tends to always be at the top when video results are integrated onto the man page.

One other telling detail from Manber's answers was his repeated insistence that search is about people more than anything else. Again and again, he stressed that Google's approach with respect to search will not waver from the simple principle of helping people find what they need. While that's a basic premise, Manber seemed to be suggesting that developments like social networking, contextual search and human-powered search may all have their places, but they will never replace search. Instead, Manber said Google will look to fold some new developments into its larger search philosophy.