Webmasters across the Internet were totally floored by what happened to their Google ranking recently. Those whose pages were ranked on top seemed to totally disappear, and many who had been ranked at the bottom were suddenly in the top 10.

So what caused this phenomenon? Simply put, Google spent a lot of time (and probably money) coming up with new ranking guidelines. In Webmaster speak, "Google changed their algorithm".

Why? you ask...Google, from the beginning has been more in tune with what people are searching for than any of the other search engines or directories. They have always seemed to be more in sync with the average surfer - in other words when you search you actually find what your looking for.

Well, apparently they just weren't satisfied. So they decided to make it even better.

On first glance I thought they had made a huge mistake, but as Webmasters began reworking their websites and pages to get back to the top ranking positions, it appears to me that their idea was right.

In case your wondering, I was one of the Webmasters whose site seemed to disappear! And let me tell you it was scary. I lost 700-800 visitors a day - and a lot of income.

I went to the Google site to try and figure out what they were looking for, and frankly didn't find much that I didn't already know, so I set about reworking my pages and website so that this couldn't happen to me again.

In record time, after evaluating and reworking and submitting my pages, they went back to the top. In fact, some that I could never get to the top are there now.

What I found was that although keywords are still a prominent factor and linking was important, that the relativity of the pages became very important.

In other words, the keywords and links really have to be relevant to the entire page - and to the site as well. Google likes everything linked internally. I'm sure the idea being that this ensures the "search results" will indeed provide what the surfer is really after - and that's their bread and butter.

The bottom line is that after going thru a very harrowing experience, my website and my profit line are all the better for it. In other words, I ended up with a better website, a better idea of what my visitors are really after, and long term I don't think this could ever happen to me again.

Google seems to really have come up with what people are looking for and is offering good web sites with rich content as their top ranking sites. This is good news for the serious webmaster.

I know that everyone is out there giving advice and speculating, not to mention the new products that have risen up to get you listed fast!

My advice - save your money, and put the elbow grease to work - you'll be all the better for it. And if your really thinking, it won't take long.

2005