Google Caffeine
There have been a lot of rumours and speculation recently concerning the build up to the launch of Google Caffeine. Many people are wondering whether the changes are beginning to influence Google searches and many SEO specialists are currently reporting strange goings on in UK SERPS.
Google’s Matt Cutts has been quoted as saying that Caffeine has not yet been integrated in Google searches so far, yet this does not explain why there are SERPs fluctuations, as was experienced during previous Google updates. Some are even speculating that Google has already launched Caffeine in certain data centres but the general buzz is that it will be in the next few days.
Caffeine Sandbox
When Google released Caffeine Sandbox, a place for users to compare search engine results with the current Google infrastructure, there was no confirmed mention of when Caffeine would be active. So no one outside of Google has been certain when Caffeine will be affecting SERPs, however Matt Cutts gave a definitive ‘no’ when asked if it had been rolled out.
The question really that everyone wants an answer to is will Caffeine really change results? Google has claimed that ‘most users won’t notice a difference in search results’, although ‘Web developers and power searchers might notice a few differences.’ As we reported in our initial assessment of Google Caffeine, the changes seem to lean more toward relevancy.
Search Relevancy
Summit Media had results similar to ours, finding that the search results aren’t that different between Google and Caffeine Sandbox. The company compared overall nine thousand keywords and concluded that there would be ‘a tiny change in ranking’ once Caffeine was released, and that Caffeine preferred pages with refreshed and updated content.
We have mentioned in prior posts that we believe from our own research that Google Caffeine is inclined towards Twitter with Google’s search label of ‘real time’ and investment in social media. Overall it seems that relevancy is key, combined with real time content and this has been confirmed with Summit Media’s results.
We have noticed that there has recently been a definitive change in results with a distinctive increase in fluctuation. This happened with previous updates, such as the Florida update, where there was an increase in irrelevant and even spammy results before and during the early stages of the update however these dissapeared after 3 to 4 weeks. The same could be happening here as SERPs are erratic to say the least.
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Google, as usual, is just keeping everyone hanging on tender hooks. The rankings are bouncing around like a yo-yo, yet Google isn’t saying why, which is just annoying. I’d just wish they would warn everyone that the are updating and results might be a bit off for a few weeks.
As a SEO specialist working in Canada for a web design firm, I’ve noticed that Google has been really messing with there algorithms. For example I’m working on a client now and have successfully got him the the front page of Google for an extremely relevant search term.
I’ve been watching my clients progress over the past 3 days, all on the same day he’ll appear on page one, then later on page 2, page 3, back to page one and then not even in the first 100 pages.
Totally unbelievable and to be quite honest leaves me scratching my head as to what is going on here.
@Canadian SEO
There are a lot of people out there experiencing the same fluctuations. There is not much that can be done apart from keeping the faith. Our tests in the prievew domain suggest that well optimised and relevant sites will prevail after the update, so it really a case of communicating this effectively with your clients. The chances are that the Canadian updates will hit before the UK, so will be interested to hear of any developments.