Lots of tongues are wagging and many of them refer to http://www.Scroogle.org as their point of reference.

It seems that Google has changed their algorythms to eliminate some sites who have either been spamming the Google databases, or even using such fine-tuned SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
techniques that they have assured themselves the very best search engine results on their chosen keywords.

Google realized that their database was being skewed towards those companies who simply have more money than they have integrity.

The *Scarecrows* (guru's who want to scare you into certain actions that benefit their own goals) are ripping up quite a storm of anger over the Google changes.

Concerned about the possible ramifications for my own site, I took a stroll of Google results tonight and learned that the changes did not affect my own results at all. Well, not negatively anyway. Under one specific keyword phrase, I had held the number one spot for years, but had slipped down to number three over the last couple of years. Today, I am back on top of the results for that one keyword phrase. Yipee! Under all other categories, my site has either moved up in
the results or stayed at the same level.

While I do try to tweak my site for indexing by Google and the other spiders, I do not devote my life to that task. My theory has always been that if I do the basics correctly the first time
out, then I will not have to go back and redo my pages later. I have always felt that if I do the best that I can from the start, then the natural results of the search engine results will better serve my long-term goals.

It is my opinion that so long as my site comes up in the Top 20 for a specific keyword phrase, then I will have done my job right the first time. Number one is nice, but it is only an ego thing. Top 10 is better of course, but Top 20 will still usually get me seen. If my page actually delivers on the promise of the keyword phrase being searched, then a number three or a number seven result will generate as many sales as a number one result. How can I be so sure? Does my competition actually deliver on the promise of the keyword combination used? In most cases no. Therefore, number seven will get me the sale, because I am still the first website offering the customer what he or she really wants.

Bill Platt owns *Bite-Sized Marketing Tips* which exists as a blog and ezine. You have just read a posting from Dec 13, 2003. WEBSITE: http://byte-sized-marketing.blogspot.com/ SUBSCRIBE: mailto:byte-sized-marketing-tips-subscribe@yahoogroups.com ---> Do you write your own articles? Let us distribute them to 6000+ publishers/webmasters: http://thePhantomWriters.com/distribution