Caffeine Update
The quote from Google regarding the impending Caffeine update which stated that ‘Web developers and power searchers might notice a few differences.’ seems to be a bit of an understatement. There is chatter all over the search community about the fluctuation of SERPs but more alarming is the amount of Spam and malicious content that is being pushed up in Google results.
OK – Google is currently experiencing the tail end of the “Google Vince” update and the preparation of the “Google Caffeine” update, these are both currently causing fluctuation in search results. We are seeing sporadic movements in listings across the board which are changing on a near daily basis. Yes we have seen similar behaviour during the ‘Big Daddy’ and ‘Florida’ updates, but it all seems a little more drastic this time.
Malicious Sites
The Register reported yesterday on the large amounts of malicious sites being pushed up in search rankings and from our own research, it seems as if malicious sites are exploiting this potential window that has arisen from the Caffeine update. Perhaps the most frustrating thing for SEOs is the amount of poorly optimised sites that are currently ranking.
We have run test results in the preview domain of Google Caffeine and the results look significantly better than the current live Google. However until this search architecture is implemented in the UK we have to live with all the rubbish that has drifted to the surface. The most important factor is to steer clear of sites that could be malicious, anything with script injections like:
www.ads-t.ru/ads.js
www.bannert.ru/ads.js
www.bannerdriven.ru/ads.js
www.adtcp.ru/ads.js
Some of the domains that are listing in the SERPs seem pretty normal at first glance so it is advisable to be as vigilant as possible. The domain .ru is generally associated with disreputable online practices however it is important to emphasise that not all ads.js file extensions are malicious but in this case they are.
After running our tests in the preview domain we were encouraged by the results as they seemed to lean towards relevant and well optimised sites, but now it seems like a case of playing the waiting game until the updated search architecture starts hitting data centres. The timeline for this is uncertain, however historically it occurs within 4 weeks of the update going live.
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