Google Caffeine and You

Google’s new project, code named Caffeine, is in the works at the Googleplex. Caffeine’s purpose is to revitalize their algorithm and provide an improved search experience for users.

If all goes well you can expect to see faster indexing speeds, more Web pages indexed, and a more comprehensive search results page. In terms of search marketing, you can also expect to experience an increase in competition for single, generic-type keywords, more fluctuation in rankings, and renewed focus on long-tail keywords as they become even more relevant to sales conversions.

Now’s a good time to ensure to make sure that you’re positioned well for your chosen keywords because there’s still time to clean up your optimization before Google switches over completely.  Double check your SEO campaigns using their web developer preview in order to avoid any nasty surprises.

You must consider this to be a major search algorithm update! Don’t worry yet, it’s currently in beta-testing mode but once they flip the switch, there’ll be no turning back. So now’s the time to get prepared.

Remember to log out of your Google Accounts (iGoogle, Gmail, AdWords, etc.) before you begin making your checks to avoid skewing the results you see based on your browsing history and personal profile settings. Then you’ll need to open up a new window or tab, so you can compare your SEO campaigns between Google’s regular SERPS and Google’s Caffeine.

Here are five tools that will come in handy:

1. Google Caffeine Bookmarklet — This tool enables you to easily check Caffeine results by clicking the bookmarklet in your browser.
2. Plug Caffeine into FireFox Search Bar — Adds Caffeine to your FireFox search bar.
3. Ranking Checker — This tool checks your ranking at Google and Caffeine at the same time. It doesn’t show you the actual search results for comparison, but it’s a quick way to check rankings.
4. Google vs. Google Caffeine — This tool provides a split screen, side-by-side comparison of search results from both Google and Caffeine. You’ll find this especially useful if you are doing a lot of testing.
5. Google.ie and Google.de vs Caffeine — In addition to the US version of Google, you can also see the Irish and Deutsche versions too—all within a split screen view.

As you might expect, Google would love your input. So, if there’s something specific you like or dislike about the new search results, let them know! Be aware that Caffeine is still in the early stages as the project was informally announced mid-August. Of course we’ll keep you posted as Caffeine evolves and especially once it begins to effect Google’s mainstream search results. In the meantime, here are some of the anticipated changes expect Caffeine will usher in:

Integration of Real-Time Search Results — As reported in previous updates, Google remains fascinated with Twitter’s real-time search results. Twitter’s search function is touted as one of the microblog’s hottest commodities because marketers, business owners, consumers and other searchers can watch search trends happen as they occur in real-time.

This is expected to be a hot feature to watch for because Google considers this development to be one of the more challenging aspects of Caffeine. If they succeed, you can expect time sensitive search results to improve as search trends continue to reflect the increasing availability of virtually real-time information.

This could be a game-changer for businesses that are able to harness the power of social media optimization. By keeping tabs on events as they are happening, you may be able to provide topic and time sensitive content that will get immediately indexed and highly positioned in the search results. This can, in turn, provide invaluable branding and product placement opportunities that, before now, were impossible. Stay tuned!

Universal Search Shift — Google’s Universal Search feature, though popular, has been hurting their paid results. Regardless, we don’t expect Universal Search to entirely fade away although we do expect it will be downgraded within the search results. In other words, you may soon see video and image results shifting to a less prominent part of the search results pages to make more room for paid results. Where currently we are seeing video and image results inserted at the top and middle of the search results page, in the future we expect they’ll be placed at the bottom of the page. In the end, what may be “good” for advertisers may prove to be annoying for searchers. So, only time will tell which features will actually stay and which will get cut because of negative user experience.

Greater Social Media Prominence — Although, technically, this doesn’t qualify as a “change,” it’s worthwhile to note that Google is increasingly placing more emphasis on ranking social media profiles higher in the SERPs. We’ve already watched sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Technorati and others continue to dominate the search rankings. As these and other social media sites continue to grow in content and user-base, it’s unlikely this trend will reverse anytime soon. The social media phenomenon is clearly here to stay and Google agrees. Evaluating and reinvigorating your social media optimization efforts would be a worthwhile endeavor in preparation for the release of Caffeine.

Website User-based SEO Strategies Will Continue to Prevail — Google’s new search engine update (Caffeine) seems to reinforce the mantra “if you focus on the best practices and plan ahead…you’ll come out ahead” …or something like that anyway.

In other words, there is every reason to continue focusing on the mainstay (what some people call white hat) SEO strategies. In that regard, we expect little if anything to change. All of the on-page strategies remain critically important. And the tactics remain the same for off-page strategies as well—assuming, of course, they fall within Google’s acceptable-use webmaster guidelines.

More than a cup of coffee! All in all, Google’s Caffeine sounds promising. They are pulling out the stops to bring in their “A” game. Their mission is to make their search results even more relevant as well as more profitable. If they succeed in reorganizing with increased relevance of social media sites and decreased importance of universal search results, we suspect they’ll succeed in also maximizing the milk from their cash cow, The Sponsored Listings!