Google gives search Caffeine boost

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 12 Aug 2009 at 10:13

Google is trialling a new version of its search technology, as it looks to keep one step ahead of the competition.

The project, code-named Caffeine, is intended to make searches more comprehensive, accurate and faster. However, the company admits the changes, which have been under development for the last several months, are unlikely to revolutionise search overnight.

"The Caffeine update isn't about making some UI changes here or there. Currently, even power users won't notice much of a difference at all. This update is primarily under the hood: we're rewriting the foundation of some of our infrastructure. But 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," notes Matt Cutts, the principal engineer on the project.

The changes come as Microsoft bolsters its own search offering with Bing and new search technologies, such as Wolfram Alpha, begin to shakeup the market. However, Cutts denies that theses innovations have spurred Google into action.

Nobody cares more about search than Google, and I don’t think we'll ever stop trying to improve

"I love competition in search and want lots of it, but this change has been in the works for months. I think the best way for Google to do well in search is to continue what we've done for the last decade or so: focus relentlessly on pushing our search quality forward. Nobody cares more about search than Google, and I don’t think we'll ever stop trying to improve," he concludes.

The long term impact of Caffeine is difficult to measure, but analysts have been impressed by the technology.

"Google's Caffeine is undoubtedly faster, almost twice as fast at times. It's like a Google GTI," claims Martin McNulty, director of search marketing specialist Trafficbroker.

"The launch of Bing has been a good thing, although unfortunately more for Google than Bing if the level of innovation continues at this frantic pace. Google is still very much in the driving seat and is still setting the pace."