Google is developing a new search engine nicknamed “Caffeine” to make searches even more relevant and to keep its leadership in internet related searches. More about this can be found on the Google Webmaster Central Blog. If you want to try the new version of the search engine on steroids caffeine, you can take it for a test ride here: Google Caffeine Search Engine. If you want to give Google feedback, you can do this at the bottom of the search result page, just click “Dissatisfied? Help us improve”, type in your comment and make sure to include the keyword “caffeine” in the same comment.
Google is updating its search engine continuously, so what is the big deal, and why is it important for bloggers and internet marketers?
Google states that “The new infrastructure sits “under the hood” of Google’s search engine, which means that most users won’t notice any difference in search results. But web developers and power searchers might notice a few differences,…” That means, that the user interface will not change, or at least not dramatically, but that the underlying search algorithm will – dramatically.
John Chow writes in his short caffeine review “it shows what types of SEO are truly long term and beneficial, and what practices to avoid.” That is all what it is about. Google is implementing more and more ways to keep spammy sites from appearing high in the SERPs and is working hard to improve the search experience for the everyday internet user.
I did some basic research, comparing the results between the present Google and the caffeinated Google version, and have come to a few, premature, conclusions:
- Older sites seem to be slightly preferred by Google Caffeine.
- Google Caffeine shows, in general, more search results than the current Google version, indicating, perhaps, that Google is already re-directing resources towards the new search engine.
- Results on the first few pages seem to be a bit more accurate.
- Google Caffeine is faster, by milliseconds
, than the current Google version. - New, “more results from this domain” menu in a vertical drop-down menu. For major sites, such as Wikipedia, a search box is displayed on the results page, allowing you to search inside the search, neat!
Matt Cutts, Google’s head of the Anti-Spam Ninjas writes on his blog:
“… the half-life of code at Google is about six months. That means that you can write some code and when you circle back around in six months, about half of that code has been replaced with better abstractions or cleaner infrastructure. Six months is an exaggeration, but Google is quite serious about scrutinizing our codebase regularly and rewriting the parts that don’t scale well to make them more robust, more elegant, or faster.”
So it seems that continuous updates to the search algorithm will play a major part in Google’s future. Nothing really new in that, just confirming what we already knew. Google wants good content on the top and bad on the bottom or completely left out of the index.
There is a video interview available, where Matt Cutts, newly bald because he lost a bet, speaks about the caffeinated update. Link to video interview.
He explains that the new Google update is a major one. The ultimate goal is to display faster, more relevant search results in real-time, that favor vertical searches. This, together with the recent presentation of Google Wave, shows Google’s will to move towards the so-called “real-time web”.
Summary and a few more bits of information
Google Caffeine is here to stay, either in the present or in an improved form. That makes it incredible important for webmasters to check NOW how their sites would perform when Google Caffeine would be the main search engine algorithm. By showing it to the public and encouraging the use of it, Google gives those webmasters that listen, a head start to improve their web sites BEFORE the big change takes place. Just remember, Google is not good with privacy. If you don’t want to have your searches connected to your Google account, remember to log out first and then to search!
How to meet Matt Cutts
In case you are in the USA, you might be interested about this bit of information Matt Cutts has just released on his blog:
“If you want to give me feedback in person, I’ll be at Search Engine Strategies San Jose this week. I’m doing a site review panel on Thursday, or just walk up and say hello!”
If anybody makes it to the event, say hello for me to Matt
So what do you think of this new development in the search engine landscape? How do you think it will affect your sites or blogs?
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how do i install caffeine?
Very interesting! I just went to look, but they’re doing system maintenance now, so I’ll play with it tomorrow.
@sidney montegudo
You don’t install it, it is a search engine, just go to the link I gave in my post.
@MsTerri
SY
Have fun, I use it to check how my sites will do after it is the algorithm Google uses. So far, so good, no major SERP loses and same small gains
interesting post, i like that google isn’t just setting back on their haunches and waiting for someone to make something better.
Sounds quite interesting – I will have to try Google Caffeine for the search terms for which I am showing up on Page 1 in the “old” Google SERP’s. Wanted to try it straight away but ALAS the Search Engine is under maintenance…(too much caffeine or not enough?
)
Hi, Google’s launched the Caffeine project, to make Google faster and better. They’ve currently a test site. When will Google integrate the upgrade into their regular search engine?
@John
Yep, one thing that you can’t accuse Google of is being lazy and to rest on their laurels.
@PetraWeiss
Yes, today it seems to suffer of a caffeine intoxication.
Good one
@Zippers
When the test phase is over, SY
These seem like some very interesting developments, and I am all for anything that will keep spam away! It has always seemed like Google has given preference to older websites in general.
@Chuggin
Yep, and it seems it will put in future even more weight on that! SY
Wow, it looks like Google may have been shaken a little by the introduction of Bing. Having compared the two (current Google vs Caffeine) myself, I can see very little difference in the search results. Perhaps it’s just my particular niche, but my site ranks identically on each and my competitors almost identically.
@Ste
For the rest, I agree, I see few differences between Google Caffeine and decaf, but we don’t know how much of the Google Caffeine algorithm is already used in the “real” Google. SY
As I commented on another post here, Bing has, for the first time, overtaken Google in search engine generated traffic for me. Go figure, more visitors from Bing then from Google, who would have thought that as they started
Google caffeine is said to be the next generation architecture for web search.They just want feedback from webmasters regarding this new system (search engine)and the one which is currently used.It gives an idea of the future search results.
Now i just keep on using http://www2.sandbox.google.com to check the position of keywords in SERP
@hospitalera
Really? That actually surprises me, the search engine sent the following number of visitors to my site (for last week):
Google = 996
Bing = 38
Yahoo = 31
Others = 46
As you can see, completely different story to your own. That’s why I thought Bing wasn’t so much of a problem for Google, but now it looks like I could be wrong.
@Ste
Last week (10-16th August 2009)
Bing = 285
Google = 194
Yahoo = 17
Others = 7
You are right, I am curious why our results differ so much?! Are search engine particular to certain web sites?
SY
PS Funny detail, a lot of my Bing traffic comes because of this article about Google Caffeine, go figure
@Allen
You have to stay ahead of the competition, SY
I am doing the same
@hospitalera
Yes that’s rather strange, but I think I’ve worked it out. My site ranks generally lower in Bing for most keywords, but it ranks significantly lower for others. For example, i’m fourth in google for the keyword ‘free ps3′, but I don’t appear in Bing until the third page.
So it’s more to do with placings than with the popularity of that particular search engine for my site. But it still doesn’t explain why there’s so much difference in SERPs.
@Ste
SY
I guess the SERP algorithm is different for Google and Bing. Would be interesting to figure out what each search engine prefers and to act accordingly
@hospitalera
Interesting, yes. But it would be a mammoth task.
@Ste
! SY
Yes, but it may be worthwhile to be prepared for the time when Bing overtakes Google
Do you know when the new Google is ging life?
Those small changes that you are writting about gave me a bit of thinking how Google is looking at the competition and taking what is best in there (i.e. from Bing and not famous Yebol). They have a major advantage over their competition – many people when using internet do it by using Google, they say ‘Internet’ and mean ‘Google’. I wish that thing would change…
@Ann
Actually it is already life, like I wrote, they implement the changes continuously, no ETA on when the “old” Google algorithm will be replaced completely. SY
Whoo Hooo! I need all of the caffine while blogging!
@James
So do I! SY
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