Google's Secret Weapon

So while Google and a rival search engine may both receive queries for "acne", Google is better able to decipher whether the searcher is a teenager who wants a quick solution or a doctor browsing medical information. This is because Google has more data on prior and related groups of searches by users with similar profiles.

"As you have more data, you are able to move from just the keyword to what the true intent of the search was because you have more context, and that gives you better search results," says Kortikar.

Google's systems are also trained to respond to incoming search queries in real time and shift its computing resources on the fly to match emerging hotspots of requests on the Web. Any news event that causes a spike in query traffic automatically sends more of Google's processing in the direction of the incoming requests, says Arnold.

While Microsoft and Yahoo! also have similar, albeit less powerful, systems in place, Goggle's ability to deliver fast, relevant and powerful search results is further boosted by the large query volumes coming in, Arnold says.

Its tripwire is set off quicker than that of its competitors thanks to the vast amount of data it sees. "Microsoft and Yahoo! are running Corvettes around the track, and they're pretty happy about that," says Arnold. "But Google has the Ferrari."