We've covered Google here before, as both a business and a cultural phnomenon. Now Michael Gersh over at Zero Base thinking notes that Google may be about to reduce blogs' rankings in their system, possibly even removing them from the main index and placing them under a dedicated search tab a la Usenet.

I see significant technical difficulties just in keeping track of who is a blog, and they're likely to kill Blogger if they have perfect enforcement for Blogger blogs and imperfect enforcement for the rest. Still, Michael raises some worthy points and offers some useful sources.

Many bloggers get a decent share of their traffic from Google (and other search engines), and when you add the readers who find us via search and become regulars the effect becomes very significant over time. If you're a blogger, it's worth paying some attention to this.

UPDATE: Donald Luskin has a much more optimistic take on the blogosphere's future, though we may have a long way to go (Hat Tip: Rand Simberg). The story of his speech to the Russell 20-20 Association, a group of the world's largest investment managers and pension plans, is worth the read all by itself.