Google Caffeine and your Website SEO

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To deal with rapidly updated information on the web, Google released it's updated search indexing system, called Caffeine. We detail how this has changed the constantly evolving search landscape and provide some hints on improving your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Strategy.

What is Google Caffeine?

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Google Caffeine is Google's latest update to their search engine. It is a website indexing system that provides faster, more relevant and more comprehensive search results. Google has changed its search architecture to a system that now continuously updates its index, so that published website content is found much sooner than was previously possible. Google claims that this provides 50% fresher results.

How has Google changed their search engine indexing?

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Previously, Google would browse the web and then update its index. Now, Google’s index is updated as soon as new information is found. As explained by Google, “when you search Google, you're not searching the live web. Instead you're searching Google's index of the web which, like the list in the back of a book, helps you pinpoint exactly the information you need.

Our old index had several layers, some of which were refreshed at a faster rate than others; the main layer would update every couple of weeks. To refresh a layer of the old index, we would analyse the entire web, which meant there was a significant delay between when we found a page and made it available to you.

With Caffeine, we analyse the web in small portions and update our search index on a continuous basis, globally. As we find new pages, or new information on existing pages, we can add these straight to the index.”

How will this affect your website's search engine rankings?

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Google has not changed its algorithm or criteria for ranking websites, only the way it indexes and presents information. It is still important to post high quality content, even through social media, as this factor is still recognised by Google as a critical measure of the credibility of your website. Remember these important factors:

• Using social media and rapid-update services such as Facebook and Twitter will help Google to index your content faster.
• SEO activities on your website will have a faster impact on rankings.
• Other noted differences in the way Google indexes website, from a Search Engine Optimisation perspective, included heavier keyword weighting and the importance of a domain’s age.
• It’s also vital to ensure that your hosting is reliable and fast – so that your page load times are speedy.

Please contact Brightlabs if you would like to know more about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for your website.