James Dooley and Kasra Dash unpack the concept of the Google dance, explaining how ongoing ranking volatility plays a major role in whether websites climb or decline in search results. They describe how Google deliberately introduces temporary and sometimes random ranking movements to disrupt manipulation, which is why sites often surge or drop shortly after link building or content updates. These fluctuations aren’t accidental but part of Google’s system for stress-testing signals before settling positions.

They go on to explain that different ranking states matter, as positive, neutral, and negative states affect how Google evaluates new inputs like links, content changes, and user behaviour. James Dooley and Kasra Dash also point out that factors such as keyword cannibalisation, topical authority gaps, and algorithm dial-shifts frequently create turbulence as Google reassesses relevance, authority, and engagement data. They caution that reacting too quickly to volatility can make things worse, stressing that core updates take time to stabilise and that recovery often happens naturally once the algorithm finishes recalibrating.