You guys are right, the Big G is definitely making changes!

So I have been watching as people post about sites disappearing and what not, as my rankings weren't affected in the weeks prior.

But still, curiosity reigns.

I took a brand new domain one week ago and went through my usual processes. Through up a blog, highly searched niche keyword target, super low comp., MASSIVE daily inquiries in the sub niche and adjoining/complimentary, and went to work adding some content for aff promotions.

My typical 12 hour or less indexing system (various techniques from around here combined) absolutely did NOT work for the first time ever. lol

It took 4 days to get indexed, which is a new record for me. Once indexed, my site had fell off the face of the earth. Google had acknowledged it, but it was no where to be found.

Mind you, this is after rigorous approaches that work in the most competitive of niches.... (sitemaps, SB, Mad RSS, backlinks, FOAF's, and on and on.)

Finally, today I see I have some results on the 3rd or 4th page of Mrs. G., fluctuations are still very present, and at the current rate of acquiring high quality backlinks and updated relevant content, I have a feeling that this niche will get annihilated by my site when everything settles in.

So, my conclusion from what I have seen is that Mrs. G is monitoring new domains straight out of the gate, and it seems new links and subsequent sites of interest are being chastised for a short while.

This reminds me of an eddy on a powerful river below a waterfall. You're streaming along, and get spun around a bit, being lead no where, only to resume with the flow once more. It's almost as if there's some sort of "holding tank" Mrs. G puts you in for about 2 weeks under a specified criteria. Good thing tanks can leak!

Oh, and I forgot to add.... the whole reason I became interested is because I regged multiple domains under the same sub niche. I modded a WP theme to create FOAF's linking to one another in various places. Another site I hadn't touched at all was sitting on page 6 for the results of my original site query. The keyword phrase did not even match the url. This is what lead to unusual effort on my part and a bit of investigation of a few other fresh domains and niches.

I have not come to the conclusion that coming out the gate swinging helps nor hinders. I have always had great success with rapid growth until now. I have a hunch there is a certain criteria, but I doubt it's worth spending any time on. True, quality viral content rules all.