The Google Caffeine Update is finally live. This means a couple of things for followers of SEO, since some of the rules that Google used for indexing have changed, though the “algorithm” itself is said to be unaffected. For people who have been doing straightforward SEO, there shouldn’t be too many bumps in the road or surprises, but there are a few things to know about.
For starters, there is no longer a lag time between getting a page cached and getting it displayed. In the past, a search engine spider might come along every few weeks, cache the page information, and then wait to apply that information to the index. SEO customers would often ask why a page had been “cached” in Google but the old title and meta description was still visible on the index. Now, the index is changed at the same time the page is cached, so alterations to your website can more quickly (for better or worse) have an impact on your search engine rankings.
While Google is saying that its algorithm is unaffected, this does not mean that Google Caffeine won’t have an impact on rankings. Why? Because faster indexing and the ability to find more page types means that there is more information for the same algorithm to process. There are now more contenders for all keyword positions, and if they are making regular changes that Google can see, the ranking process can be more volatile unless you’ve got strong on-page SEO and more links. For example, if Google couldn’t find someone’s relevant content previously, and now it can, your rankings could suffer even though you’re doing all the right things. For the consumer, however, the ability to access more information is a plus, especially if that information does a better job of asking the question implied by the search query.
On-site content, and fresh content, is likely to come into play when you consider the Caffeine Update and its relation to the Mayday Update. Google can find and index more information faster, and it gives a preference to sites with more “trust” by way of good internal and external linking. For people who continuously create high-quality content (as opposed to machine generated or “spun” content) this should be beneficial. If your site is light on content, you should consider the benefits of adding more information now that Google reads and indexes more pages faster. Additionally, this gives you an advantage if you want to keep your site current with trends and topics that may be hotter in search circles, since a frequently visited site may make a cogent contribution to a buzzworthy topic, and in turn you can drive traffic from the “hot trends” of the day.
As always, best practices for SEO really haven’t been impacted by Google’s Caffeine Update. As long as you’ve been building an online resource for information about your business or topic matter, you have a head start over people who are just looking to game rankings for traffic purposes. In fact, the two latest Google Updates could be working in your favor if you are always adding fresh content and improving the trust factor in your website by getting strong relevant links. In the world of SEO, the advantage goes to site owners who are vigilant about how search engines read their websites. At Web.com Search Agency, we can act as your advocate when it comes to making sure your site weathers the Caffeine Update and other search engine changes that come down the pike periodically, and we can always recommend changes if an update displays a preference for a different course of action.
