Google has been testing a new version of it’s search engine. The project, known as Google Caffeine, is intended to be an overhaul of the architecture of Google’s web search that would improve its indexing speed, accuracy, and comprehensiveness. Google Caffeine is set to launch “after the holidays” according to Google’s Matt Cutts.
So, what does that mean for SEO? Well, a preview version of Google Caffeine was made available for testing to web developers and power searchers back in August. After reading many reports of the the testing results it seems that search results are faster and the results are more relevant.
Some takes from the tests:
From Ben Parr at Mashable:
Conclusion
While this test was nowhere near scientific, we do have some solid takeaways:
New Google is FAST: It often doubled the speed of Google classic.
New Google relies more on keywords: SEO professionals, your job just got a lot harder. The algorithm’s definitely different. It has more reliance on keyword strings to produce better results.
Search is moving into real-time: Being able to get info on breaking events is clearly a priority for Google and Bing. With both Twitter and Facebook launching real-time search engines, they needed to respond.
From Seth Weintraub posted on Computerworld:
The results are what makes Google so popular and will be the true test of how good this new engine is. In my tests, the new Google pulls significantly different results than the old Google. For what I was searching for (my name, people I knew, events, computer hardware) the results were significantly better. In fact, it looks like the search keywords have become much bigger a factor than before. I’m seeing smaller sites rise to the top more overall.
From Darren W. Chow for Ezine Articles
What is notably different from the new set of search results is that the images, news and video results are presented differently. They appear to blend into the search results, instead of appearing on top (or at the bottom) of the search results. This could mean that the new algorithm takes into account the freshness of the content. The new algorithm also appear to reward sites that are updated on a regular basis with unique content.
So, the consensus seems to be that fresh, updated content that is keyword rich will be the winning formula. It also appears that static, brochure style websites will be the losers in the Google Caffeine world.
