Matt Cutts did one of his fascinating videos about the inside workings of Google several weeks ago that answered a lot of questions I get from my real estate clients these days. Everyone's site seems to bounce up and down in the rankings, with the exception of the most powerful ones that pretty much stay in the number one or two positions. Sometimes these sites can move around a bit, but for the most part they stay, as they are usually based on the size of the site, the age, and number of incoming links it has.

Anyway, Matt explains that in the old days, Google would have big updates that really shook the internet world. Once or twice a year, unfortunately often right before Christmas, they would have an algorithim change...like discounting certain kinds of links...or penalizing for certain types of SEO practices. You'd see familiar (and often deserving) sites that would suddenly tank in Google for no apparent reason. Storefront sites that were depending on Christmas sales to get them through the year would suddenly lose all the free business that Google can bring. Anyone that got hit in that way would be forced to scramble and find out what they were doing wrong, and often resort to pay-per-click advertising to make their sales budget. Google got a lot of criticism for it.

But around the middle of last year, Matt explains that they went to a daily indexing and algorithim adjustment process. The large changes are no longer that noticeable, and changes are much more minor than they used to be. This can be good or bad, depending on whether you are the site owner or the SEO person...ha ha.

Without further ado, here's the interesting video that Matt did. He's doing these videos about twice a month now, and if you haven't ever watched them, and are interested in promoting your website, I recommend that you sit down a couple of days and catch up. You will learn more from this cutie-pie than all the SEO tutorials and tips you spend your time on elsewhere!

I'd also like to mention a couple of new sites that I'm working on. My Allstate agent in Myrtle Beach is writing some really good tips for getting the lowest premiums on SC Homeowners Insurance. I also have a new site of my own that lists the best restaurants and all the Pet Friendly Condos in Myrtle Beach.