What is all this talk about the Moon?

[Natalie]

Are you guys and gals saying Google waits until a full moon before it begins the update? Well if so, it looks pretty close to full from here, Stamford, Lincolnshire, England.

[billy_t9]

Is this a QUESTION or an ANSWER?

Toiiiink!!!

[Mardi_Gras]

Full Moon coming on 24 July 2002 at 4:07 a.m. Central Daylight Time - but that's for New Orleans :)

[Natalie]

Question, does Google wait for a full moon before it begins its dance?

[Mardi_Gras]

That's as good a theory as any - I am sure there are some here who could go back through their records and confirm or deny - but I'm not one of them :)

[rfgdxm1]

>Question, does Google wait for a full moon before it begins its dance?

I'd say the fact it happens to be coinciding with the *full* moon at the moment is just coincidental. However, Google definitely seems to have decided to try to do updates "once a month". The length of time a month is based on the length of the lunar cycle; in fact the word month is derived from "moon".

[jen24815]

Actually, the chart I was looking at showed it started right BEFORE a new moon.

Then there's the numeric "countdown" of the last few updates.

Obviously, we all have way too much time on our hands, huh?

[Brett_Tabke]

> is just coincidental

Yes. Moon cycle is 28 days - just so happens so is Googles. 4 weeks is 4 weeks.

[JayC]

>>Moon cycle is 28 days - just so happens so is Googles. 4 weeks is 4 weeks.

Yeah, while I've read mention of that connection several times I've always thought of it as just a coincidence. And I suppose that if it happened that Google's 4-week cycle corresponded instead with, say, the new moon or quarter moon, the relationship would never come up.

[edit]
Oops, after reviewing the thread I see that jen24815 may have brought it up even if it were in synch with the new moon! :)
[/edit]

[rfgdxm1]

>Yes. Moon cycle is 28 days - just so happens so is Googles. 4 weeks is 4 weeks.

Wrong. Google's cycle is basically once a month. If it were 28 days then one would expect the updates happening earlier and earlier in the month, with eventually some months having 2 updates. From the chart on this website, only once has Google updated twice in the same month. April of this year. As there was no update in March, best guess is for some technical reason Google had to delay the March update until April.

[Jaze]

[googol.com...] might have something to do with the speculation

[ciml]

Brett's Google Update History [webmasterworld.com] gives an idea of what has happened in the past.

Past performance is no guarantee of future performance. This is as true for SEO as it is for stocks and shares.

[Sinner_G]

>I'd say the fact it happens to be coinciding with the *full* moon at the moment is just coincidental

Nah, the Google founders happen to be werewolves.

[Brett_Tabke]

let's not go down that road. It's why this whole line was retracted almost as soon as it was made. Evidently, some sound it so pervasive that it was worth continuing.