Open forum for the Friday blog. I am posing the question, what would happen if Google made the algorithm public? This will never happen, they do keep their cards close to their chest and always have done, this is there secret weapon in the war on search, and has driven their success to obliterate any opposition.

Firstly, if Google publicised their algorithm what would this mean for SEO? SEO is an industry built on knowledge and experience, if you take this away by releasing details of essentially how to promote a site in the natural listings, you could potentially see the collapse of a multi billion pound industry.

With the likes of MSN and Yahoo being able to see how Google work, there would be no competition between any of the engines, and therefore no competition to be the best and most relevant results, something that can only harm us as searchers.

Money would certainly be an issue, with rich brands who are not performing in the SERPs, they could see exactly what is needed to improve there site and they could throw massive volumes of cash to fix this. This is an obvious problem as they might not be the most relevant result, and smaller companies who are acting as a resource instead of a shop would get left behind and the searcher would be neglected again.

My conclusion is, do we really need to know the algorithm, after seeing massive success at SEO Consult maybe its best for all concerned to keep it under wraps. There would only be one loser as a result of this, and that is us as searchers. Feel free to comment on what you think would happen…..