Google prepares Caffeine for prime time

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 11 Nov 2009 at 11:33

Google's improved search technology, dubbed Caffeine, is ready to be rolled out to the public, according to the company.

The search giant has been testing Caffeine since August, which is intended to make searches more comprehensive, accurate and faster. It now appears the company is ready to take the training wheels off the project.

"Based on the success we've seen, we believe Caffeine is ready for a larger audience," says Google on its testing page.

"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."

According to Matt Cutts, the head of Google's webspam team, they will begin switching on Caffeine over Christmas.

"Caffeine will go live at one data center so that we can continue to collect data and improve the technology, but I don’t expect Caffeine to go live at additional data centers until after the holidays are over," says Cutts on his blog.

"Most searchers wouldn’t immediately notice any changes with Caffeine, but going slowly not only gives us time to collect feedback and improve, but will also minimise the stress on webmasters during the holidays."