Google Caffeine, What Effect will it have on Rankings?

Last week we wrote a post introducing you to Google Caffeine. Now we have some more information to share with you as well. Google Caffeine is a "secret project" considered to be next-generation architecture for Google Web search. The word on the web is that it will be shaking up the results a bit, but it may also open up a new avenue toward real-time search results.  Early reviews indicate that there will be noticeable differences in the results pages for many terms and brands, so those with SEO campaigns are advised to watch this update closely. 

Google's Matt Cutts compares Caffeine to the company's 2006 Big Daddy upgrade in his interview with WebProNews.

"It's essentially rearchitecting, or rewriting, a large chunk of how we index Web pages," Cutts said. "We've engineered it so regular users shouldn't notice much of a difference. Power users might notice a difference, and that's why we opened up a power-user preview."

Cutts also says Caffeine is not a reaction to Microsoft Bing, but instead says that summer is a great time to test. He also hits on the topic of real-time search question; Cutts says it will help index documents faster but stops short of saying "Caffeine will enable Google to index Twitter tweets."

So for those who are already taking the  best-practices approach with their organic search engine optimization campaigns, sit back and watch the change and be ready to study the impact. This could mean a little, a lot, or nothing at all to your websites’ rankings.