jbroder - 9:12 pm on Jan 23, 2012 (gmt 0)

For the 3 years prior to August, our site was #1 for a particular keyword phrase on Google. Then suddenly we dropped to about #10 and have stayed there.

For the 3 years prior to November, our competitor was #2 for a different keyword phrase, then in November they were #1. Then in December they went down to #10 and have stayed there.

It seems to me that somebody at Google reviews the #1 site for each keyword and then assigns a penalty if for some reason they didn't like the #1 site.

Do other people see something similar? Or is it just a coincidence?