What is the Google Dance? LinkTree says:
Once a month Google calculates the pagerank of each page and changes the serp (search enigne result pages) for all keywords.
The Google Dance is the time between the start and the end of an update. In that time you get different results on www.google.com, www2.google.com and www3.google.com. Normally the Google Dance takes about 4 days.
The best time to put new pages online is during the Google-Dance. If you let too much time lapse between the completion of the update and the publication of new content, you may reduce the amount of new content that will be included in the next update.
Woz at WebmasterWorld offers this alternate explanation:
They put some pages in,
They take some pages out,
They calculate the PageRank,
Then they shake it all about,
They wait until the full moon
Then they mix the servers up,
Thats what its all about.
If you're really interested, WebmasterWorld keeps a chart of Google Update History.
Posted by Aaron Swartz on June 11, 2002 05:51 AM