Google Caffeine is a new algorithm introduced by Google that should be going live in the New Year. Google Caffeine is an update to the Google system that has been designed to increase the speed and improve the relevance in which search results are generated.

Any overhaul of a Google Algorithm should not be taken lightly and how much of an affect it will have on SEO and current rankings is anybody's guess.

Of course, Google have not released any of the details around Google Caffeine as yet but the system has been live on some test servers over the past few months.

There are various factors that may play an increased role in the new algorithm, which we can all be aware of and act on now before the system goes live:

Website Speed
Google are looking in more detail at the overall experience that they are providing searchers with. There is nothing more frustrating that clicking on a link to visit a website which takes an age to load.

TIP – Do manual checks using different browsers to check your sites load time. If it is slow for you, it will be slow for others and you should look at improving this.

Broken Links
Google crawls a website by moving through the links on a web page. If a search engine is unable to navigate a site without coming to a dead end, you can be sure that your visitors won’t be able to either.

TIP – Run frequent checks on your website to ensure that every internal and external link leads to a live page. Broken links may begin to have a negative impact on how your site continues to rank in Google.  A good free link checker tool can be downloaded here – Xenu Link Sleuth

Linking Structure
Google and all the other search engines are aware of the different ways that a website can build its link profile. Linking to / from known spam sites (link farms) will not be good for your current rankings when Google Caffeine comes into play.

TIP – Any aspect of your website that could be considered as spam should be removed.

Website Quality
As mentioned previously, Google are looking at the overall visitor experience, from the initial search right the way through to the end goal on your website. The design and navigation of a website should be professional and help visitors reach their desired goal.

TIP – Ask someone who is not familiar with your website to conduct a specific task on your site whilst you watch. This should highlight any flaws in the design or navigation as you will see where they are stalling.

This new algorithm is set to be released early in the New Year.

Posted by Sam