Google Caffeine
In a nutshell, Google Caffeine looks like a bid to move toward real time search by increasing the capacity, speed and accuracy of their search index. Since the announcement earlier this month it has been causing a stir amongst web developers and search engine optimisation specialists alike. Everyone is asking the same question, ‘how will it affect my SERPS?’
It is important to state that there is no definitive answer to this question at the moment, for two reasons. Firstly it is a test and this means that Caffeine will be reviewed and developed, so indications at this point in time will change. Secondly it is currently only available in a preview domain based on US results, so if you work with UK results for tracking then it is not that helpful.
Search Architecture
This being said, Google Caffeine is billed as the search architecture of the future. So we ran some tests on the preview domain for a broad range of keywords and there were some interesting results thrown back. The main search engine optimisation related trend we would to share with the world is the significance of social media in the listings.
There was a distinctive move toward intensive social media listings and an apparent devaluation of blog and review sites. So if SERPS are treating viral content as authoritative where does that leave traditional methods of search engine optimisation?
As previously stated, until Caffeine has finished testing and has gradually been introduced into data centres we will not know, however our research points to Caffeine being partial to Twitter and with the acquisition of FriendFeed earlier this month combined with the real time search label that has been attached to Caffeine, things are looking real time social media friendly.
Indexing More Pages
Matt Cutts has written and spoken on the proposed changes to the indexing system on a number of occasions, pointing to the fact that most users will not notice a difference. However when you make large scale adjustments to a search engine’s infrastructure then there will inevitably be some effect on SERPs and resultantly on methods of search engine optimisation.
There were some other small search engine optimisation pointers that we noticed [such as url presentation] that could potentially be something new, however it is all still cloak and dagger at the moment. One thing is for sure; Caffeine is indexing more pages and is delivering results faster. Could this lead to an increased significance in the hosting server?
Generally we were pleasantly surprised by the results thrown back from Caffeine, especially when comparing to some of the bizarre SERPS we have experienced in UK listings recently. There seems to be a shift toward relevancy, with authoritative sites ranking higher which we feel has to do with real time content distributed across a wide range of platforms. We will keep posting on any developments we discover in our ongoing tests.
Related posts: