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Clearly, your link to Fran's site just killed your PR. Or maybe it was her link to your site. Or maybe it was that ladder you walked under earlier that morning to get away from that menacing black cat hissing at you.
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My point (and one I try to hammer home for myself daily) is that Google *IS* like God in many ways. It / He / Whatnot works in Mysterious Ways, ways we mere mortals can barely understand and cannot hope to ever understand.
Some things, of course, ARE pretty clear. Repeat the same keyword 666 times on your site, and Google WILL likely send your site down into the depths of Ranking Hell. Order for delivery a googol of pizzas to your competitor's office and you ARE likely to be delivered somewhere other than Heaven.
Post genuinely thoughtful content and get links from the New York Times and Slashdot on the same day, and Google smiles. Volunteer your time to help disadvantaged kids learn critical computer skills, and the Big Guy in the Sky is likely to smile upon you, too.
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But most everything else is a gray area.
All too often I see here (and I've been a culprit of this, too!) "Hey, [bad thing x] just happened, and I just did [random thing y] right beforehand! Therefore, Google must be penalizing [y]!"
I'm sure that this would be even more frustrating if GoogleGuy didn't occasionally step in and say, hey, no worries about [y]. But of course, he can't address every issue.
So in the meantime, I'm reminding myself to be more Zen-like in my Google thoughts. As many before me have also intoned, "Make good sites, and success will come."
Sometimes it's frustrating to give up more fine-tuned control. But at the same time, it can be both rewarding and, ultimately, the most productive thing to do :)
