More Caffeine Please

by Dan Korvas
Search Engine Specialist

Back in August, I posted how Google began testing their new Caffeine update and allowing the public (well, those in the know) to test out the sandboxed version of this new search update at www2.sandbox.google.com. Don't bother trying to view that site anymore, Google has shut down the functionality of the page and you are met with this message instead:

"We appreciate all the feedback from people who searched on our Caffeine sandbox.
Based on the success we've seen, we believe Caffeine is ready for a larger audience. Soon we will activate Caffeine more widely, beginning with one data center. This sandbox is no longer necessary and has been retired, but we appreciate the testing and positive input that webmasters and publishers have given."

So it is official, the Caffeine update is on its way and will start to be rolled out data center by data center. Judging by the test searches that I ran when the test page was still accessible, my search results really didn't seem all that different from what one would find on the standard Google search engine. It really seems that this update is more of an infrastructure change, as the only real change that most testers (including myself) reported was a faster response time in the results. This is a good thing because a major update to the search engine during the holiday season can have a big impact on online retailers revenues, which has happened in the past with Google. Expect to hear more about the Caffeine update as more and more data centers adopt this update.