Search Engine Optimisation Web Log (BLOG)

Googles Datacentres Explained

Google uses a series of servers, known as datacentres, to collect the data derived from its search engine spiders. Once the data is complete, once every 3 to 4 weeks, Google merges the results to a single server that publishes these results in to the Google Search.

Identifying when Google is about to merge (known as the dance) is
important to Search Engine Optimisers and Webmasters alike. The reasoning behind this is because in our attempts to derive good listings in the search engines, we have to identify what it is the search engines are rewarding high positions for. Once we know this we can make on-site and off-site changes in an attempt to advance the position of the sites we are interested in.

However imagine you make a change, you wait a week, don't see any impact and make some more changes. If Google hasn't danced in this period then you haven't seen the results to your initial changes yet. So what if Google does dance after the second set of changes you make, now you have a problem. Are your results down to your initial changes or the latter ones. How are you going to base your success of failure on the changes you made if you cannot identify exactly which changes we responsible for the results? The timing of when to make changes and when to evaluate your results is important.

The idea behind Dancer is to monitor Googles datacentres (from a desktop application) to identify activity. What Dancer does is to monitor the test servers (datacentres) and when they start to become active the coloured indicators change- signifying a possible dance. However there are other factors which also need to be considered, backlinks come into the equation along with spider activity.

There are two forms of Dancer. DancerLite monitors the datacentres and the position of a search term for a given URL. DancerPro monitors the datacentres the position of the search term and the backlink status. It also logs these results in a graph. Over a period of months the graph highlights patterns between the various parameters. In doing so dances can almost become predictable. However it is always wise to keep in mind that Google is never predictable, and just when you think you know what search engine optimising is all about, they have a tendency to redress the balance and teach the SEO community humility again.

M.P.

Comments

7 Aug07 Keith Fletcher
I have used the tool DancerLite and DancerPro and they seem to have helped show the status of my site http://www.homeandgardening.co.uk