Google Caffeine - enough boost to beat Bing?

September 3rd 09, 10:42

I am becoming rather a fan of blogging on Google developments - it most certainly keeps me on my toes, and the collaborative nature of Google’s efforts appeal to my generally enthusiastic nature.

So… once again, Google have opened up to the development world, the opportunity to comment on and contribute to the optimisation of search results.

This new search platform development program is called Google Caffeine.

At the moment, what you need to know is that this development program is looking into 2 key areas within Google search:

Speed
Currently at a Google search rate of 3000 searches per second, speed is of the essence and needs to be a factor that is continually improved. Google Caffeine has doubled this current search speed - ok, so it may only be by one tenth of a second but every little helps.

Accuracy of search results
More accurate search results provided by Google Caffeine can be illustrated with several examples. One is the reduction in the amount of back-links to blog sites. Just to clarify, a back link can be quantified as ‘a brand inserting their link into a blog site or discussion forum’. Our objection, which is an objection shared by many SEO agencies, lies in the fact that this passes on the brands marketing costs to the blog sites and is effectively, if paid for, ‘buying friends’. Let’s sum up by stating that this way of getting your URL out there, is invasive and non engaging, to say the least.

Although there is currently a less blended set of search results coming through on Google Caffeine, this is an area that is being looked into.

These search results are also providing more real time search results with improved result refinement. We will say now that our experience to date has demonstrated that keyword chains take a little more formulation work to provide optimal results but, true to form, we hear that Google are working on it.

Online businesses must be keeping on top of this. It is a major platform change. At least, with Google incorporating developer feedback and opening this up to the floor, businesses can keep one step ahead of the game.

Check out the dev site and compare your search results to those thrown up by your current Google search browser window.

Anya Gooch
Account Manager