Businesses constantly updating their websites with new content will be the main beneficiaries of Google Caffeine, which will add sites to the search index merely seconds after they are uploaded, SEO experts say.
But SMEs don’t need to change their SEO strategies dramatically to take advantage of the new program, as it only affects the speed at which pages are uploaded and not the order in which they are ranked.
Google introduced its Caffeine update last year, but that was only for testers and now the new index is being rolled out for all users worldwide. It should be live over the next few days.
In a blog post, Google software engineer Carrie Grimes explained the new index was a response to more “real-time” pages being updated constantly, like news, forum posts and updates on sites like Facebook and Twitter. These sites are being updated by the second with new user content.
The Google Caffeine update will mean a user can search for new content just seconds after that content has been uploaded.
“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.”
Jasmine Batra, chief executive of Arrow Marketing, says the new update will help businesses which are continually updating their sites.
“The problem with the old index was that it was lagging behind. Old pages were being picked up even though they had been removed. Google is now saying that it will provide new results, not just cached results.”
“I think a good example of this is blog posts, which a lot of businesses are using. These blog posts will be added to the index faster and people will be able to find them quicker, as opposed to having these blog posts updated in weeks and months.”
Jim Stewart, chief executive of Stewart Media, says the introduction of real-time updates on sites like Twitter and Facebook has pushed Google into creating a new index that will allow users to find these sorts of pages as quickly as possible.
As a result, businesses creating real-time updates and making new pages constantly will be rewarded with a faster inclusion on the Google Index.
“If your site is getting updated regularly, people are visiting it and you have a load of backlinks, then you’re going to be rewarded more than passive sites.”
“Real time indexing will impact those quality sites that are upgraded and updated regularly. Google will visit you as a result and will constantly index you – update a lot and you’ll be indexed a lot.”
Reseo chief executive Chris Thomas says the Google Caffeine update hasn’t actually impacted rankings, but will instead make sure sites with regularly updated content can be accessed faster.
“We’re going to keep an eye on things, but it’s really more about the speed of the index rather than the algorithm showing where pages need to go.”
“The basics are all the same. Backlink profiles need to be strong, there needs to be strong keyword optimisation and the rest should take care of itself. The delay in indexing has really annoyed us.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
