The dreaded Google algorithm shift.

According to an article by Shankar Gupta, Google is in the midst of another algorithm shakeup. It would be the first one of 2005 and gets people thinking about the changes that could happen. For many web sites it means that their search results are either going up or going down. Thank goodness Google isn't the only game in town and so we don't have to totally rely on it exclusively for results. But they are so significant in the search engine arena that an algorithm shift can not be ignored. Every time they have one of these algorithm shifts, people get very nervous. Particularly if their business relies on results to bring in sales. It's probably not a good thing to keep track of the shifts because you'll make yourself mentally ill by worrying about them.

It's better to go into your kitchen and make a delightful peanut butter and jelly sandwich and think back on the days of innocence. Those were the days when no one had to worry whether or not a listing in some far off computer was going to change the fortunes of their lives. But because we have the Internet today and many companies rely on it now, we're going to see more people fretting about this. I personally don't worry about it. The changes in the algorithm can make a difference in what happens to a business, but it won't do any good to worry. The better way to attack it is to make a web site the best it can be. There are going to be many algorithm changes in Google's future I'm sure as well as the other major search engines. I've noticed MSN has had some shift in the last few weeks and I would guess that as they continue to tweak it, the shifts will be more frequent.

It's important to be mindful of changes, but it's also important to understand that these changes are usually out of our hands. Because we don't have control over the search engine algorithm, we have to make do with what we have. That's no different than what's happened in the past doing business the old-fashioned way. If some facet of the business changed and affected revenues, then business would change to meet the challenge. It's no different with changes in the search algorithm except that now the changes are immediate and so our response must be quick as well.

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