Whilst the majority of emails I received after this article's publication highlighted individual cases of rank-drops or outright exclusions from the Google index, my interest was aroused by the fact that many of them seemed to be from online business owners with little or no technical knowledge, simply asking for advice or help because they no longer trusted their current web designer or SEO.

My doubts were further compounded a few days later when I stumbled into the middle of a discussion in the Google Webmaster Help forum, where a new user had posted a question regarding his web site's disappearance from the Google index. Since this gentleman was obviously frustrated by the development and the tone of his post was somewhat less than diplomatic, one of the forum's regular users automatically stamped him as a 'ranting spammer', thus starting a rather heated discussion.

Looking at the site in question, I did indeed find large amounts of hidden, keyword-stuffed text, along with a huge number of W3C Compliance issues. I was however also struck by the fact that this person had actually bothered to create a Google account with a user profile; not a common occurrence with spammers.

A little more digging and a few pertinent questions revealed that what I was dealing with, contrary to initial appearances, was in fact a highly confused and frustrated online business owner without a clue about why his web site suddenly disappeared from the Google index after a few successful years at the top.

Having contracted a web designer to create a site for his business idea a few years previously, he had learned how to update his site from preset templates and was cheerfully trundling along with his company until the moment Google's search algorithm caught up with the original web designer's methods.

Visiting the webmaster help group, he immediately noticed that many other members seemed to be in the same boat and, reading through posts and archives, reached the somewhat premature conclusion that Google was somehow picking on smaller commercial web sites; which in turn prompted him to begin venting his frustrations.

This is just one isolated case amongst many.

It does however serve to illustrate the comparatively large number of webmasters and site owners who are totally dependant on the competence of their web designer or SEO professional and lack even a basic knowledge of Google's Webmaster Guidelines, W3C Compliance or the many different steps necessary to successfully promote their web site in this day and age.

If, like many other webmasters out there, you are administering a commercial web site designed by a third party some time ago, you cannot continue to blindly trust their ethics or competence, as Google's search algorithms are drawing an ever tightening net around a growing number of spam tactics.

Your web site's search engine rankings are vital to the success of your online business; if it has not yet been affected by these algorithm updates, now would definitely be a good time to familiarise yourself with Google's quality guidelines or call in a professional to ensure that no dubious tactics were employed during its construction.

Remember; the old adage about "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." doesn't necessarily apply to search engine rankings since, what worked yesterday, may be seen as spam tomorrow, unless standards and quality guidelines are followed to the letter. About Author :

As senior writer for IceGiant Web Design in Cyprus, Sasch Mayer has been living and working in Larnaca since the beginning of 2006. The IceGiant web site provides a range of quality internet services as well as a large selection of articles and tips about web design and site promotion.