Report: A “Caffeine” Infusion Would Mean Ranking Changes On Google

Aug 26, 2009 at 10:22am ET by Greg Sterling

Search and online marking firm 360i published findings from a small but structured test of how the “Caffeine” search infrastructure changes could affect results and ranking on Google. As Vanessa Fox wrote when Caffeine went public earlier this month, there apparently would be a number of changes in the ordering and content of results. As she observed in that post, “Google Caffeine will cause quite a kerfluffle in the web developer and search engine optimization world and many will dive in to try and figure out the changes.”

This is precisely what 360i has now tried to do. The company evaluated 40 retail-oriented keywords/searches to compare results before and after, and the potential SEO implications of Caffeine:

[A] sample set of 40 retail keywords. We looked at ten major retail brand names (keywords), ten retail head terms (single keywords), ten retail torso terms (two-word phrases) and ten retail long-tail phrases (four-word phrases) and compared the search results on the first three pages of both engines (standard Google and “Caffeinated” Google).

With the caveat that “everything could change” before Caffeine formally rolls out 360i offered six observations or “things to expect” if/when it does. Here they are:

Domains and rankings will fluctuate.
The index size, or “competition,” of single keyword search relevance will increase.
You’ll see a boost in relevance for long-tail searches.
You’ll get results (SERPs) in half the time, on average.
Blended results will increase.
There will be a social jolt.

To read the larger discussion of each of these takeaways go to the 360i blog post.

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land, and writes a personal blog Screenwerk, examining the broader world of media and advertising. He also posts at Internet2Go, which is focused on the mobile Internet.

See more articles by Greg Sterling >

Share, Bookmark & Discuss This Article
More:

See more stories like this in the Members Library! Check out the Google: General, Google: Universal Search, SEO: General sections of the Members Library where this story is filed. Members also get access to exclusive video content, a members-only weekly & monthly newsletter, plus more. Check out all the benefits!

Report: A “Caffeine” Infusion Would Mean Ranking Changes On Google

FREE DAILY SEARCH NEWS RECAP!

STAY CURRENT THROUGHOUT THE DAY

Get Your Search Engine Land
Premium Membership!

Report: A “Caffeine” Infusion Would Mean Ranking Changes On Google

FREE DAILY SEARCH NEWS RECAP!

STAY CURRENT THROUGHOUT THE DAY

Get Your Search Engine Land Premium Membership!

Get Your Search Engine Land
Premium Membership!