In recent times the folk from Google have become increasingly open, for the most part, in regards to how they go about ranking websites. While they never have and never will tell us exactly how it works, they aren't as afraid as they once were when it comes to answering questions.

Late last year some of the Google team answered questions from industry experts and webmasters alike. The session covered many hot topics, naturally they were answered as tightly as possible.

Even so, some very informative and useful information was provided for all. For example, when ranking websites Google use over 200 contributing factors and on average, they made more than one adjustment a day to their algorithms during 2008!

Some rumours were also squashed such as poor inbound links and their negative impact on your rankings. As common sense would have it, they do not, they just count for nothing. Not only would it then be too easy for competing sites to take you down the rankings, it's hard to punish you for something you may have no control over.

At the end of the day anything learned was a bonus as it's nice to see a continued open approach from the team at Google. Stay tuned for more Google and Industry news as it comes our way.