What is Google Dance? How often does Google Dance happen?

New websites, blog posts, articles and web pages are created every day. To keep up with this near-constant stream of web content, Google is also constantly updating and adding new pages to its search results. These updates led to Google Dance: a term commonly known to web developers and digital marketers.

• The Google Dance is the high volatility that a new website, web page, or other content on your site will experience while being determined by its position for optimal search engine ranking.
• This means that your newly published page that starts very low in search engines (Position 100) will be periodically elevated to a higher position so Google can see user reactions.
• If the Google algorithm finds that people click on your page, spend time on it, and enjoy the content, it will reward your page with a higher ranking.

How often does Google Dance happen?

• In the past, the name “Google Dance” was used to describe the period during which a major Google search engine index update was being carried out. This major Google index update happens once every 36 days on average, or 10 times a year. It is most easily identified by significant changes in search results and by updating Google’s cache for all indexed pages. These changes will be apparent from one minute to the next. But the update doesn’t happen like an index-to-index transition like flipping a switch. In fact, it takes several days to complete the complete index update.
• Because Google, like every other search engine, depends on its customers knowing that they provide authoritative results 24 hours a day, seven days a week, updates pose a serious problem. They can’t shut down for maintenance, and they can’t go offline even for a minute. Hence, we had Prom. Every search engine goes through it, a few more often than Google. However, it is only because of Google’s reach that we pay more attention to rebuilding it than any other tool.
• As of August 2003, the famous/infamous Google Dance is no more. Or rather, it has become less dramatic. Google now does weekly updates, with most of the movement happening on Mondays. These ongoing updates are mostly algorithmic and minor index updates.

• So in any given month there will be slight changes in rankings. This is because the Google bot or spider is always running and looking for new documents. It also happens because the bot may have detected that a site no longer exists and needs to be removed from the index. During Dance, Googlebot will revisit every website, figuring out how many sites link to it, how many outbound links, and how valuable these links are.
• Because Google is constantly crawling and updating selected pages, their search results will change slightly throughout the month. However, only in Google Dance can these results be wildly shaken. You also need to consider that Google has multiple data centers, sharing more than 10,000 servers. Somehow, updates to the index that take place during the month and outside of Google Dance have to be carried throughout. It’s an ongoing process for Google and every other search engine. These incremental, continuous updates only affect portions of the index at any given time.

Frequently asked questions about Google Dance

When does the Google Dance take place?

Google Dance can be affected by the following factors:

• Age: New sites and pages tend to dance more.
• Competitiveness: more competitive keywords/industries/places dance more.
• Link Building: New links (backlinks) and the strength of those links (strong links) will affect the jump.
• Changes: New page, new website, drastic website redesign/rebuild.
• New Algorithm: When Google Performs Index Update

How long does Google Dance last?

• The time period depends on the same factors; More competitive terms seem to dance in the Google SERPs more and volatility (volatility) is stronger. This bounce usually stops after Google has determined the page value, which can last several days or even weeks.

Where can I follow Google Dance?

• The best and most accurate way to track free search engine results is to use Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to see your site’s ranking. These two tools give you accurate data on Impressions, Clicks, CTR and Average Position of your Keywords and Pages. You can also sign up for a $7-day 7-day trial with Ahrefs, or use an inexpensive keyword tracking tool like Keyword.com to track keyword jumps.

What Should I Do When My Site Dances?

• Expect Google Dance. When the Google Dance happens, continue to do all the things you would normally do following best SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies and digital marketing methods, and don’t panic.