How will Caffeine affect SEO?

As an internet advertising agency we have to stay abreast of all the latest developments. This is especially important when Google launches an update and the next one has created a lot of interest.

Google's Caffeine update is set to speed up the search engine in terms of bringing up results and indexing. So what does this mean for search engine optimisation? Well, it means any changes you make to your site will be seen by Google quicker. This is a good thing if you are a proactive SEO'er.

Also from what I have gathered from others who have tested Caffeine, the new update is putting more emphasis on keywords, titles, synonyms and keyword strings. This again is good news for anyone who focuses on updating their site with quality unique and well optimised content on a frequent basis.

I have also heard that domains which are keyword rich are being given more exposure. In contrast to this it seems images and You Tube results are being given less exposure, which is a good thing in my opinion as I always found them quite annoying.

Overall, the feedback to this update is good and should be taking place in Q1 of 2010. Even though the update has been in development long before Bing was released, I can't help but feel that Caffeine is a response to the improvements made by Bing. Microsoft's re-launch certainly has enabled them to claw back some market share and with the newly announced partnership with Wolfram-Alpha the answer engine it will be interesting to see what direction the increased competition will drive Google in terms of innovation.

Also with Facebook and Twitter both reportedly launching real-time search engines it certainly seems Google is taking a step in this direction. Social media is certainly having a big impact on Google. The new phrase which is emerging is "social media search". Sites such as Digg and Twitter are showing that people do like real time search. If Google is going to compete with these sites, further updates like Caffeine will need to take place.