If you ask any experienced Search Engine Optimization specialist then they will tell you that one of the banes of their life in the past was the ‘Google Dance’. Every Search Engine Optimization expert dreaded it. They absolutely loathed finding that their website would jump up and down the search engine results seemingly at random on an almost daily basis. I am sure that many parties were held when it finally died. It seems as though it is back now, which means you can look forward to seeing your website bounce up and down those searches again.
So why is the Google Dance a bad thing? Well, it makes it very hard to analyse what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong. It occurs due to small changes in the ranking algorithms. It can be very difficult to determine where you are located in the web searches as a result of this. It can then be very hard to change your campaign around so you actually end up with a stable position. Those that go through the Google Dance may often find that it takes many weeks for the position in the search engines to stabilize a little bit. During this time they will be unable to make any real changes to their campaign through fear that something could go wrong and they get stuck in the Google Dance limbo. Thankfully the latest incarnations of the Google Dance seems to be less heavy than previous versions, and hopefully it is going to stay that way!
One of the main reasons as to why these sites have bounced up and down the searches is because of the new algorithms that have been introduced. Perhaps one of the biggest of these is the Panda algorithm, and to a lesser extent the Penguin algorithm (which affects far fewer websites)
I am making you aware that the Google Dance is back because most Search Engine Optimization people do not actually realize it is there. Therefore they are adjusting their campaigns when they really do not need to. This is NOT going to be ideal really. You could be making changes which are seemingly going to have absolutely no effect on your rankings.
Sadly there is absolutely no way to avoid the Google dance. Even if you work with top search engine optimization specialist in the world there is absolutely no escaping. So you are going to need to think about this in the long run. You need to know that whilst you may be at the top of the search engines today you may not be tomorrow. This is going to be perfectly normal for a while. Do not worry about it. It is perfectly natural. Any expert will tell you that you will eventually stable out after a while. So do not worry about it. Just continue what you are doing at the moment, as long as you are doing things properly you will beat the dance!