Just like in real life, the cyber world i.e. the World Wide Web is also in a constant state of flux. In order to provide an accurate index to the ever changing web, a search engine has to periodically refresh its complete database. The update pattern of, say, google or yahoo’s database tends to have a significant impact on its searches.

WHAT IS GOOGLE DANCE?

The monthly update of google is affectionately termed as GOOGLE DANCE and industry experts are always on the watch out for this event. After every update , sites often move up, down or vanish altogether and people involved in the business of SEO or SEM watch the outcome with trepidation for their businesses rely primarily on search engine referrals and a top ten ranking, i.e. being featured in the first page, significantly improves business prospects by grabbing the maximum number of eyeballs.

GOOGLE DANCE is important to an information seeker in a different way. The google database may not be restricted to only one database, there might be variable results, and you may be able to uncover old or up to date content, by employing a few tricks.

The classic GOOGLE DANCE may therefore be defined as an updating/rehash of its database and re-indexing billions of web pages on a periodic basis.

HOW IS IT DONE AND IN WHAT WAY DOES IT AFFECT SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION?

Each GOOGLE DANCE starts off with a deep major crawl. Crawl A is how we will refer to it. It spiders the whole of the 3.4 billion pages of the web. Fifteen thousand cheap desktop PC’s located in various data centers, distributed all over the globe are put into use by google. Deepbot or GOOGLEBOT is sent out to enmesh current sites in its database. New websites that have recently been launched can also be found out by this tool. The completion of CRAWL A will be followed by a second update around a fortnight later. The whole database will then be updated and new results will be displayed on www3.google.com and www2.google.com. Results are often rapidly swapped between the second and third and the primary database in the interim. Until most of the update is finally completed, net users in various parts of the world find varying search results. This is because google uses over fifteen thousand servers. Usually the dance does not last beyond a week. This will again be followed by another heavy spidering-CRAWL B.

Neither of these crawls ensures the inclusion of a new website into the google database. There is a high chance that it won’t be included in that month’s update if the website is spidered at the start of the month. It may be included if the spidering is done during the second crawl of the month, but don’t be too sure. Hopefully it will be included in the next update.

Google on the other hand might choose to simply hit a new website and take only the ROBOTS.txt file and the homepage. It is a good sign and indicates that googlebot will return in the next important crawl. The next update following the second spidering usually includes the website. Thus the inference we can draw is that it’d take two complete visits from googlebot for a new website to be included in google’s database. But there are exceptions.

To ensure the most rapid inclusion, try to see if the website is spidered for the very first time during or directly after the update. It will likely be included in the next monthly cycle. A site owner or web master will have to wait for a longer period for his website to be indexed if it is crawled during the next cycle. You have to study the spidering process and schedule of other websites, note the date of updates and carefully plan your new launch accordingly. Watch www.google.com for updates. The main thing is that you have to be thorough and ready with your homework and plan well in advance or else you will have to pray to god to pull you out of this sticky situation.

For the sake of safety you can flag googlebot and drag the crawler or search robot to the designated site. With the help of other websites with a high page rank, exchange reciprocal links to the designated site. If a website enjoys a high page rank, usually its chances of being crawled and refreshed by google increase manifold. People will pick up your URL more quickly.

A small tip: try to link your website to relevant sites instead of any damn off-topic site. For e.g. If you are trying to sell tapestries, try to attach your link to similar other websites selling tapestries. You can also submit your website through the ADD URL section of google. You can also choose to install the google toolbar and through it visit your own website. If you are ready to part with $299 annually, you can be listed in the yahoo directory and through it get into google’s database