Gadgetopia

Webmasters Weary of Latest Google Tweaks: For the umpteenth time in the last few months, Google has irritated people.

A Google update that observers say started on Nov. 16 has created a buzz on online message boards and search engine marketing newsletters, even spawning conspiracy theories among some posters.

Some sites have fallen from high rankings to the nether reaches, while others have gained better slots. While such shifts are nothing new, this time around some observers say it appears that Google is trying to penalize sites using the most aggressive search-engine-optimization techniques with keywords and links to rank well on Google results

There’s a tool — Scroogle — that compares the current results against past results (no idea how they did that) to tell you how much you got…well, scrooed. “Enter your search terms and weep,” it offers.