Webmasters and search engine optimizers are constantly playing a game with the search engines, adding content and developing links in the hope of reaching the top page. Their battle will involve a large number of SEO weapons, and will take months or years to win. Webmasters are often frustrated by seemingly random changes in their rank. Frustrated site owners may scream out that it’s Google changing their algorithm, once again changing the rules of the game. But how often does Google really change its formula?

The answer may leave those frustrated web optimizers a little stunned. Google generally changes its formula five to ten times per week, adopting minor changes in order to fine tune the results for its users. While a webmaster may notice a drop in their site’s rank after one of these changes, most of the alterations to the search formula won’t have a major impact on your rank. So, why are these changes made?

Google pays surprisingly close attention to the behavior of its users. It has teams of programmers who look at information on how frequently users click through to sites for given keywords and categories, and those teams will often look into any searches that aren’t performing well. In addition to looking for glaring errors, Google makes additions and subtractions from their formula in order to get better localized results.

Despite these regular changes, the concept behind search engine optimization will remain largely the same. Developing high quality, relevant, and fresh content will drive more traffic to your site. Getting more links to your site from high quality sources will play a key role in your position. The rest, truly, is detail.

Still, some webmasters may see a massive change, for better or worse, in their sites position. While a change in the algorithm isn’t always to blame for this, major changes will sometimes shake things up in a dramatic way. However, according to Google representatives, major changes to the search engine algorithm are only likely to happen about once per year.