Google Caffeine Test Suggests Too Much Emphasis on Real-Time Indexing

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 by Andy Beal

Google Caffeine Test Suggests Too Much Emphasis on Real-Time Indexing

Google has gone ahead and done what search marketers could only have previously dreamed about: given us an advance preview of search engine update "Caffeine."

Announced at the Webmaster Central Blog, Caffeine is "a secret project: a next-generation architecture for Google’s web search." Ooh, how exciting! While the official announcement warns not to expect any obvious changes–it claims most of the updates are "under the hood"–Matt Cutts admitted that "some of the search results do change, so we wanted to open up a preview so that power searchers and web developers could give us feedback."

Well, here’s some feedback–garnered on my very first query–Google may have dialed up too much focus on Twitter. Take a look at this comparison:

That’s the normal Google results page. Notice that my Twitter profile sits at #7. Now take a look at Caffeine:

I love using Twitter, but is it really the 2nd most relevant result for a search for my name? Relevant enough that it displays not only my Twitter profile, but that of another "Andy Beal?" I don’t think so. It’s almost as if, in Google’s attempts to include more social media "real time" results, it turned the dial to 11, when 7 would have worked just fine.

Another clue that Caffeine is focused on speed–perhaps at the sacrifice of relevancy–is there appears to be more "Similar" only and less "Cached" results. What’s that you ask? Well, when Google wants to get new results populating in its index, it often does so, even before it fully gets to cache/index the page. A search for the very recently passed away Eunice Kennedy Shriver, reveals twice as many results without a "cache" as the normal Google index. In fact, 3 out of the top 5 results had no cache!

That could be a very good thing–after all, we want the freshest information–but, as you saw from the Twitter example, Google needs to find a way of including "real time" results without letting social media skew its non time-sensitive SERPs.

I’m going to keep digging around. I’m glad that Google’s willing to give us a glimpse of things to come. Of course, the search giant will do a lot of fine tuning before making Caffeine its daily habit (pun intended), but I suspect we’ll see social media playing a big role in Google’s results–and that doesn’t appear to be limited to just very fresh topics.

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37 comments on “Google Caffeine Test Suggests Too Much Emphasis on Real-Time Indexing”

Jaan Kanellis Says:

August 11th, 2009 at 10:53 am

I agree Andy now after looking at it further I see large emphasis on real time results
Jaan Kanellis´s last blog ..“Caffeine” The Next Major Google Search / Algorithm Update
Google Caffeine and the perception game | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com Says:

August 11th, 2009 at 12:16 pm

[...] tweaks are faster and illustrate the search giant’s focus on technology. Others are focused on real-time indexing of Twitter and SEO. I’m in the camp that can’t find much difference. On topics near and [...]
Bob Williams Says:

August 11th, 2009 at 12:20 pm

Andy,

Can you determine if the ranking of the social media sites such as Twitter is based on recency or quantity of posts?

-Bob
Bob Williams´s last blog ..Business decisions: customers, profits, and the golden rule
Luci Says:

August 11th, 2009 at 12:21 pm

Wow this could throw up some interesting results. Not all sites have loads of seo-rich cached data to fall back on so maybe this might be a bit more fair? Also probably why it’s throwing out more twitter/socially active results.
A really interesting turn of events here! I’m interested to see how it develops
Luci´s last blog ..The Importance Of The Readers Response When Content Writing.
Andy Beal Says:

August 11th, 2009 at 12:26 pm

@Bob – I’d need a lot more time in order to investigate that. It may be a mix of frequency, quantity, relevancy and authority.
Anne Page Says:

August 11th, 2009 at 12:58 pm

Real time search is definitely an incredibly functional tool. A good website in this space is gethighnote.com, which has search as well as track and share. It’s results are pretty useful and the track has helped me find some pretty cool information that might otherwise get lost.
Google Caffeine: Initial Reactions to G’s “Next-Generation” Search Infrastructure | Carson Brackney Says:

August 11th, 2009 at 1:16 pm

[...] MEDIA: Twitter, FaceBook and other social media items seem to be performing better in the [...]
Daryl Clark Says:

August 11th, 2009 at 1:42 pm

Andy,

In both of these cases you used a name or perhaps even a brand (are you a brand now?). I would be very interested in seeing some test on transactional queries and how those results might differ from the two test you conducted here.

It seems to me a Twitter result for a transactional query would have little value in terms of relevance and freshness of content might have significantly less importance for this type of query.

Great post and thanks for the information.
Daryl Clark´s last blog ..Americans Turn to Career Sites During Economic Downturn.
Andy Beal Says:

August 11th, 2009 at 2:48 pm

@Daryl – you are absolutely right–this was just a quick test. I’m sure I’m only scratching the surface.
Jaan Kanellis Says:

August 11th, 2009 at 4:15 pm

Does anyone know when this index will be public? How many times a year does Google plan on rolling this sandbox index public?
Jaan Kanellis´s last blog ..“Google Caffeine” The Next Major Search / Algorithm Update From Mountain View
Andy Beal Says:

August 11th, 2009 at 4:33 pm

@Jaan – I don’t know, but if you @mattcutts on Twitter, he may be kind enough to shed some light.
Jaan Kanellis Says:

August 11th, 2009 at 5:06 pm

Done! We shall see if he responds
Jaan Kanellis´s last blog ..“Google Caffeine” The Next Major Search / Algorithm Update From Mountain View
What do Google AdWords & The Three Amigos Have in Common? | The Internet Marketing Spot Says:

August 11th, 2009 at 8:45 pm

[...] Google’s Caffeine testing ground might contain few changes to the user interface, that’s not stopping the [...]
» Preview Google’s Search Engine Plans For Your Keywords - Scotland SEO Blog Says:

August 12th, 2009 at 12:34 am

[...] questions that I am sure will arise if and when Google decide to implement ‘Caffeine’. Andy Beal of Marketing Pilgrim fame has written a piece on the testing he has done and effect that social media has on the [...]
Google Caffeine - What You Should Expect for the Beta | Outrider Search Blog Says:

August 12th, 2009 at 12:53 am

[...] references can be found here: Google’s New Search Index Google Caffeine Tests var addthis_pub="consult"; var addthis_brand = "Outrider Australia"; var addthis_header_color = [...]
Next-Generation Architecture of Google | SEO Summary Says:

August 12th, 2009 at 12:56 am

[...] Announced at the Webmaster Central Blog, Caffeine is “a secret project: a next-generation architecture for Google’s web search. When Google wants to get new results populating in its index, it often does so, even before it fully gets to cache/index the page. http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2009/08/google-caffeine-test-suggests- too-much-emphasis-on-real-time... [...]
google caffeine | todaytrend.co.cc Says:

August 12th, 2009 at 4:21 am

[...] Google Caffeine Test Suggests Too Much Emphasis on Real-Time IndexingGoogle has gone ahead and done what search marketers could only have previously dreamed about: given us an advance preview …Read More [...]
Joel Gross Says:

August 12th, 2009 at 1:33 pm

Very Interesting Andy. Like Daryl, I am wondering what differences we would see with a brand/company vs. a name. Do you think Google can decipher between the two and provide different results? That would be useful to know.

Joel Gross
http://www.joelx.com
http://www.blog.joelx.com/
google » Two Tools To Compare Google With Google Caffeine Says:

August 13th, 2009 at 1:00 am

[...] Monday’s launch of the Google Caffeine sandbox, there have been numerous articles and posts offering ideas on what’s different between “regular Google” and the new [...]
Two Tools To Compare Google With Google Caffeine - ecomZera - world class ecommerce services provider Says:

August 13th, 2009 at 2:28 am

[...] Monday’s launch of the Google Caffeine sandbox, there have been numerous articles and posts offering ideas on what’s different between “regular Google” and the new results in [...]
paul savage Says:

August 13th, 2009 at 10:14 am

Hi Adny,

I chucked a quick tool together to compare things a little . http://comparecaffeine.com/ puts the query to both SE’s , and scrolls at the same time through the results so you can compare a little easier.

There is also a German & Irish regional version.

Paul
Video Search Queries in The Google Caffeine Sandbox Says:

August 13th, 2009 at 12:29 pm

[...] live engine. There aren’t many. A lot of people in the SEO realm have weighed in with their initial thoughts; I thought I’d add my [...]
Google Caffeine Feedback From Around the Web | MarketingProfessor.com Says:

August 13th, 2009 at 3:13 pm

[...] Google Caffeine Test Suggests Too Much Emphasis on Real-Time Indexing [...]
Travis Campbell Says:

August 13th, 2009 at 3:49 pm

Andy- Great points here. Perhaps with the growth of Google profiles, Google will be able to increase overall relevance with personalization results. Meaning if one is logged into their Google account it would give ‘preferred’ (social) results based on past SERP clicks (as they are doing with other properties (Maps)).

Also, it might be worth Google considering an option to enable a dual column results page where one column is results from top social media sites, and the other for everything else. That said, I think there is more to Caffeine (I still pause when I spell that word! than meets the eye, perhaps it is tied to a bigger strategy down the road as Google seeks to unify it’s properties and search to Google profiles. But… I could be wrong. -Travis
Travis Campbell´s last blog ..Twitter is Down – Why I Don’t Care Much
Carter Cole Says:

August 14th, 2009 at 2:15 am

i made a tool to let you compare the original google and new google caffeine check it out here

http://cartercole.com/googlevsgoogle.html
Google Caffeine Update: Master Resource & FAQ — Michelle MacPhearson Says:

August 14th, 2009 at 12:20 pm

[...] experts say? “Google Caffeine Test Suggests Too Much Emphasis on Real-Time Indexing” -Andy Beal “…my guess is that it likely does what Google search does, but better. And the [...]
» Pandia Search Engine News Wrap-up August 16 Says:

August 16th, 2009 at 10:10 am

[...] Google Caffeine Test Suggests Too Much Emphasis on Real-Time Indexing [...]
Google Caffeine is good for Social Media Adoption. | Web Analytics Blog | Web analytics Says:

August 17th, 2009 at 5:52 am

[...] it’s been brought up by Andy Beal that a Social Media SERP result might not always be what you want … …. Google needs to find a way of including [...]
Search Engine Optimization Is On The Brink Of A Major Change : The Reciprocal Consulting Blog Says:

August 17th, 2009 at 7:06 am

[...] Too much emphasis on real-time results (Marketing Pilgrim) [...]
Google dope sa com' à la Caffeine | 123 en ligne / Le blog Says:

August 17th, 2009 at 8:43 am

[...] D’après les tests, Caffeine ne présente pas une modification fondamentale des classements des résultats mais une plus grande rapidité dans le traitement des résultats, allant jusqu’au temps réel (source Search Engine Watch) et une survalorisation des résulats issus des media sociaux, notamment de Twitter (test faits par Andy Beal). [...]
The Weekly Insider 8-10-09 to 8-21-09 Says:

August 21st, 2009 at 6:44 pm

[...] Google Caffeine Test Suggests Too Much Emphasis on Real-Time Indexing [...]
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August 21st, 2009 at 11:29 pm

[...] http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2009/08/google-caffeine-test-suggests- too-much-emphasis-on-real-tim... [...]
Sushant Says:

August 22nd, 2009 at 7:48 am

Search time is pretty low and looks promising. Integrating results from micro blogging networks will definately provide results on the current hot topics and trends.
Sushant´s last blog ..Yahoo MEME Micro Blogging Social Network | Pictorial Review and Guide
Advantage: Google Caffeine Says:

August 24th, 2009 at 7:10 am

[...] Google Caffeine: Google’s New Search Engine Index 2. Google Caffeine Test Suggests Too Much Emphasis on Real-Time Indexing 3. Is Google Caffeine Faster? 4. Google Caffeine Search Index & Algorithm Update 5. Google [...]
Paul Hancox at copySnips Says:

August 30th, 2009 at 8:55 pm

Well, this is very interesting! Personally, I think Google’s increasing focus on social media such as Twitter makes sense, at least when searching for a person. If someone types in “andy beal” into a search engine, they may be looking for information on you, but they may also be looking for YOU. Taking them to your Twitter stream is a pretty good match!

Sure, other people with the same name are bound to come up. Just be grateful your name isn’t John Smith
Paul Hancox at copySnips´s last blog ..Preselling – How To Presell And Get Visitors To Accept Your Sales Message
PS3 Says:

August 31st, 2009 at 5:29 am

@ Paul Savage, thanks for the link.

Twitter is indeed a good match for people searches but imagine all the spam it will create on commercial and profitable terms.
Google Caffeine Roundup Says:

September 1st, 2009 at 5:52 am

[...] more ‘real time’, relevant search results. But this post from Marketing Pilgrim: Google Caffeine Test Suggests too much Emphasis on Real Time Indexing; has suggested that Caffeine is more about speed, perhaps at the expense of [...]

Marketing Pilgrim