Wired.com has a fascinating feature on the evolution of Google algorithm, what makes the world go round in the Web publishing business.

Given Google's 65-per-cent market share, and the effort by Microsoft Bing to tackle its dominance, there is much at stake in the realm of organizing the world's information.

Like any successful industrial process, it sustains continual improvement, and Wired comes as close as any outlet in articulating the changes.

"This flexibility — the ability to add signals, tweak the underlying code, and instantly test the results — is why Googlers say they can withstand any competition from Bing or Twitter or Facebook. Indeed, in the last six months Google has made more than 200 improvements, some of which seem to mimic — even outdo — the offerings of its competitors."

"That’s why Google is such a fearsome competitor; it has built a machine nimble enough to absorb almost any approach that threatens it — all while returning high-quality results that its competitors can’t match," Steven Levy concludes. 

Only a couple of weeks ago one blogger suggested that Google and Microsoft might very well start bidding for news organizations' content.

Well, the suggestion is real. Microsoft is going to pay news companies to take their content off Google's search engine.

The aim would be to give Microsoft's upstart Bing search engine some bragging rights, in essence to build a bit of an engine war not unlike the browser wars of old --- except in this case, content would only be available with it.

Among the organizations in discussion with Microsoft: News Corp. which is looking at taking its content off Google. The terms and conditions of Bing's exclusive pacts are not yet clear.

Michael Arrington, no staunch defender of legacy media, nevertheless can spot an opening when he sees one. In this case, he has some advice for Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. as it strives to de-index itself from Google.

Murdoch has been criticized in recent days for suggesting that's his strategy. Traffic will decline and others will offer content free for which he's seeking payment, the argument goes.

But Arrington, riffing on an idea from Mahalo CEO (and former News Corp. exec) Jason Calacanis floated, suggests the way to win the war is to start one. Namely, he suggests Google would be hurt if Murdoch's Wall Street Journal and, say, the New York Times opted to exclusively index with Microsoft's Bing search engine instead of mammoth Google.

Arrington believes the shift of power would revert to content companies, bidding wars might ensue,

"If Murdoch is going to go through with this de-indexing Mexican standoff thing, he might as well do it the right way and drive the fear of God into Google. As a spectator, I’ll enjoy watching the fireworks," Arrington writes.