The Google Dance refers to the monthly update of the Google search engine database. This can lead to different responses from search engines for simultaneous and identical searches. This phenomenon was observed mainly until 2003. At this time, the Rankings are updated almost every hour.
General details
Google now gets its search results from more than 10,000 networked Linux computers that are in turn attached to computing units (called clusters). Compared to Larry Page and Sergey Brin's early years with 2-3 Linux servers, it now requires enough organization and space for the large number of computing units. In this way, computers are located in different data centers, each of which has its own index and are closely linked to each other. The required space covers several soccer fields to accommodate all the servers. This division of computer centers guarantees a high reliability for the search engine of Google. At the same time, new features can be tested independently, without reference or influence on the official index.
How does it work
Previously, the database update was performed at intervals of approximately one month. Individual data centers were first processed separately and then completed by updating the index. Since positions in search results could usually change during the tuning stage, this phenomenon was called Google Dance. The experts then developed specialized tools that queried each data center simultaneously. The results could be displayed side by side and compared, making trend estimation feasible.
Even outside of the Google Dance stage, changes in rankings were possible, especially with websites that change their content many times. Occasionally even daily updates could be observed. However, this was considerably less compared to Google Dance.
conclusion
Google Dance at this time is no longer an obstacle. The Google algorithm has been developed to such an extent that the indexes are updated several times a day. This makes it difficult for SEO specialists and website operators to make accurate estimates and calculations about website ranking.
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