The Caffeine update was brought upon by the inability of real time search in Google. Twitter and Facebook were extensively used in Iran during a political crisis last year; a number of news sites were banned. Search engine results could not keep pace with real time developments.

As a result, Google now leases an API feed from Twitter as well as a Member Profile feed from Facebook to update its index, to provide real time search results. Sites and new content is now being crawled at a faster rate. To accomplish the rapid processing of information Google also upgraded their data center infrastructure.

What does the Caffeine Update mean for Marketers?

1. New pages and new content finds itself in the Google search results faster

2. Duplicate content is being penalized by not appearing in the Google index

a. Unique copy will have an increased opportunity resulting in a link in Google SERPS

b. If contractual agreements allow, copy received from vendors could be massaged

c. Canonical tagging is increasingly crucial for site content

d. Absolute links for content will help in seeding the content when picked up by other sites

3. Site speed is now part of the Google algorithm. (Google wants a good user experience for users)

a. Site speed will assist in an elevated ranking for sites

4. Social Media can be leveraged by digital marketers in real time

a) Twitter and Facebook’s real time search results appearance in Google can now be integrated in marketing campaigns (other than brand marketing)