Hank van Ess reveals on SearchBistro.com that Google operates a secret worldwide network of search testers - humans not bots - to make sure that sites are properly placed in Google's search results. Does this mean that Google's vaunted algorithm is really a whole bunch o' clickmonkeys?

What is it? It's a lab of humans from all over the world (from China to The Netherlands, from Korea to Brasil) They are paid to check search results of Google every day. Most of the employees, called international agents by Google, were recruited through universities all over the world. The aim is to avoid spam, to get the right sites at the top of the listing and to test new features, not shown to the public yet. I call it Google's Secret Evaluation Lab, but the real title is less adventurous; 'Rater Hub Google'.