Even with the public testing and feedback there is still some mystery surrounding how far this new indexing system will go- will it be limited to search, or will it be applied across all of the Google online structure? For, now we don’t have those answers but we do know what Caffeine is and how it will change (or not change) your search results. 

Google has stressed the fact that most users (i.e regular users) won’t notice any major differences- even though these changes are major (MAJOR). In fact, Caffeine basically is  a complete and total re-write of Google’s indexing system. The motivation behind these changes is to give the searcher, — power or regular, —  a much better overall search experience. Caffeine will give you faster, more accurate, and more comprehensive results- at least those are the goals. 

If you go to www2.sandbox.google.com and give Caffeine a spin (like I did)  you will notice some of these goals have already been met. I entered “Nehmedia” (of course) as my search term and my results returned within .05 seconds- I also tested this on Decaf Google (aka www.google.com) and my results were returned in .08 seconds. I also tried a more frequently searched term “Shoes;” Caffeine returned the results in .18 seconds and Decaf Google returned my results in .23. Conclusion: Caffeine is faster than the Google we use today. 

Another interesting aspect of Google Caffeine is that this new indexing system is going to make your time from launch to index much quicker,.Meaning: the time between when you submit a document to be indexed and the time it is made searchable should be much shorter- which is pretty fantastic for those of us in SEO.

Also very important to note from the SEO standpoint is that it seems (to me at least) that a lot more emphasis is going to be put on keywords. The top results have the exact words you searched for and in the order you searched them in.

More emphasis is also put on recent activity and content. When I searched my name on Caffeine, the Facebook results were at the top. In Decaf Google, the top results were a mix of articles containing my name. I can only deduce from this that websites with more recent activity are pushed to the top of the results. This could have a huge impact on SEO; if we want our clients websites to be highly ranked we are going to need to regularly add content or make changes to the site. Caffeine will also return more search results than normal Google so your search becomes more comprehensive- they are making it very hard not to find what you are looking for. News is changing as well. Caffeine focuses on real-time updates and has set in place an algorithm to make sure that as news is updated, so are you. 

Many people have been wondering what set Caffeine into motion and a lot of whispers (and yells in some cases) have been speculating that it was the recent Yahoo-Microsoft merger. Not so, says Matt Cutts (and he would know). In fact, according to Cutts, Caffeine has been in the works for months and the timing is coincidence.

I believe him. It would have been nothing short of a miracle for engineers and technologists to have created this as a reaction to BingHoo (or whatever you want to call it) and have it up and ready for testing so quickly. Pretty impossible, even for Google. Nevertheless, it is competition- and fierce competition at that. Even if it wasn’t meant as an answer to the merger, it is an answer to it. 

For regular searchers, Caffeine won’t mean too much of a difference in results. As Cutts said, the changes are “primarily under the hood”.  Google will still return relevant results- just faster and more comprehensive results. Power searchers and those in the “know” will notice some significant changes though, and SEO needs to take note of them because it will effect our methods and strategies.

Matt Cutts blog: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/

As search engine algorithms become more advanced and people are less and less able to function without an internet connection, SEO has to become more sophisticated. We can’t completely rely on the “old faithful” strategies. Of course, optimized keywords, valuable content, PPC (Pay-Per-Click), and linking are all still vital for a successful website- but they aren’t alone anymore. A focused marketing strategy is quickly becoming one of the most crucial aspects of creating and launching a successful website.

Hence, SEOM- Search Engine Optimization Marketing. What I mean to say by this is that using traditional methods of SEO are no longer enough. These days a strategic marketing plan is going to be the difference between a site some people visit and a site that is well-known. A couple things to keep in mind when formulating a marketing plan for a website…

* Audience- What is the audience you are trying to attract? What type of keywords does that audience respond to? This is where your SEO keyword tools come into play. They will help you decide on keywords and give you the statistics on those keywords including the all-important search volume information (if there is no search volume, there are no searchers, and you need a new idea for a website). It is vital to think about your audience, if you create a site without keeping them in mind then you might as well have not created a site at all. Remember, even if you rank number one on a search engine doesn’t mean that searchers will like your site, and if they don’t, they will move on to whomever is number two.

• Testing- if you think you have an amazing idea for a website but aren’t sure if it will be popular then test it out. This is where PPC (Pay-Per-Click) can come in handy- if you have the funds. Create a few PPC ads describing your potential site and launch them. If you find your ads are getting loads of clicks, then chances are your potential website will be popular as well. If not, then maybe re-think your idea. 
• PPC can be a really great way of finding out what types of sites people are interested in visiting and what sites they aren’t. Try a couple different ads to see which earns the most clicks. A note of warning: yes,PPC is awesome and helpful, but it is also expensive. So keep an eye on your daily budgets and when you have enough data to draw a conclusion, consider trying for organic optimization on the keywords that are working for you. 
•  Competitive Analysis- Who else is occupying the space you want? How well do they do it? Are you trying to push your way into a space where there isn’t any room? For example, maybe you have a brilliant idea for a new search engine… well, that’s gonna be an uphill climb! Google owns (I mean OWNS) that space, and if something cataclysmic happened and they no longer ruled then Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com, and many others are queued up to take the top spot.
• You absolutely have to consider your competitors. If you want to compete in a space that already has a household name, then you might want to consider another idea. On the other hand, if you have a creative or niche idea for a site then it is probably worth proceeding. You just need to have put in the research and analysis into your competitor sites so your website can beat them not only at the ranking but also at popularity. Any decent marketer worth his pricey suit would tell you that in order to compete you have to know the market inside and out- and the same is true online. 

SEO works really well. SEO works better when paired with a focused marketing strategy. It isn’t all about rank (and it truly pains me to say that); it is also about what your audience likes and responds to. You might be the best-optimized site on the internet, but if searchers don’t like your site, they won’t visit and you will have a top ranked mess on your hands. At the end of the day, it’s about getting searchers to come and stay on your site, and that takes a solid marketing strategy.