I am new to this list and I'm glad to find a group that is dedicated to Google issues.

First, I am the creator and Webmaster of Conchology - The Art & Science of Nature at worldwideconchology.com, one of the highest ranked conchology Web sites on Google. Conchology is the study of the shell created by a mollusk; essentially the hobby of shell collecting. My Web site is located at http://www.worldwideconchology.com .

With all of the search engine modifications at Google, I have fortunately been able to maintain a third or second place ranking using the search key word "conchology." This has been consistent for at least the past four years. As a matter of fact, I jumped to a number one ranking the other week (as viewed on Netscape 7.1) and then slipped to number three after a Google update. This is not my problem though; and who would complain about such good rankings.

My problem stems from the fact that when I use my most important search word "conchology" using Netscape 7.1 my ranking is higher -- either first or second, yet when I do the same search using I.E. 6.0, the Web site is consistently ranked one step lower! I have reloaded my browser software and used different computers with the same browser versions, yet the results for a "conchology" key word search on Google end with different ranking results.

WHAT GIVES??! I started to notice this inconsistency sometime in early December '03. I hope one of the experts on this forum can shed some light on this rather peculiar conundrum.

Many thanks.