Yahoo has begun a roll out of new search engine technology based on its own "algorithmic Yahoo Search product" and has dumped google in the process:

"This is the beginning of what will be a rapid succession of innovations from Yahoo Search, Within the next few weeks and months, consumers will continue to see improvements to Yahoo's search technology, in addition to advancements in search personalization and other user features." -  Jeff Weiner, senior vice president, Yahoo Search and Marketplace.

For most web sites this transition will have only minor effect as Google is still by far the biggest player in the Search Engine market.

But we regard it as a salutory lesson for those webmasters who have started optimising their sites to try and chase after what they think google will rate highly at the expense of other Search Engines.

One controversial  claim about the google search algorithm is that if you are linked to, by a site with a low page rank from google, then your site will in turn be downrated. This has lead some webmasters to ask for links to their sites to be removed

We find it extremely doubtful that such an obsessive not to say downright rude strategy ever really reaped many dividends

The number of page links to your site is always a bonus in general for people to reach your site, whether via other search engines or simply via their own meandering through the web. 

So if you were using this strategy and google was to lose its dominance you would then have put your site at a disadavantage.