Every so often a blog comes along like this one stating their ranking in Google dropped.  People automatically assume they have been "penalized" by Google and want to figure out what it is they have done wrong.   It's no wonder this is the norm due to all the "scare tactic" blogs you find here.   They make it seem like Google is just waiting for you to screw up so they can make your life a living hell.    I'm here to say that is NOT THE CASE!

I think one of the causes of this misconception comes from not truely understanding how Google works.   Google is not a centralized supercomputer that everyone uses at the same time.   Google consists of 100's of different data centers.   Some data centers have different algorithms and DO NOT rank everything the same way.    Here is a good video to watch where Matt Cutts talks about data centers.   Lets say you query a term that has your website ranking for #3, and then come back the next day and query the same term and find yourself at #7...  does this mean you have dropped?   NOT NECESSARILY! You could be accessing an ENTIRELY different data center.

You should also know that Google has been making changes to their search algorithms more in the last 6 months, than they have during all the time before.    Matt Cutts stated that Google engineers were rolling out DOUBLE DIGIT CHANGES DAILY!  

This helps my second point.  Lets say it was the same data center and you did technically "drop."  That does not mean you were penalized.   It could be merely due to the fact that something changed.   There could have been a factor Google was relying on as "important", and then made a change where that factor was no longer "as important".  There is also something known as the "QDF" algorithm.  QDF stands for "Query Deserves Freshness". That doesn't mean you did anything wrong, and therefore should not be losing sleep over it.

The fact is Google knows that not every webmaster out there is an HTML genius.  Google does not expect perfection.   Matt Cutts also once stated that the average webmaster "worries" too much about obtaining penalties from Google.  If you find yourself slipping in the rankings, don't rush to assume you've been penalized.