Digital Marketing and Technological Insight

By now I am sure you have heard about Google’s new search infrastructure upgrade / update called “Caffeine”. Anytime Google makes a change to how their search functions it is big news…based on what people are saying this is one of their biggest updates since the “Big Daddy” update of 2005.

From the Google Webmaster Central Blog:

For the last several months, a large team of Googlers has been working on a secret project: a next-generation architecture for Google’s web search. It’s the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions. The new infrastructure sits “under the hood” of Google’s search engine, which means that most users won’t notice a difference in search results. But web developers and power searchers might notice a few differences, so we’re opening up a web developer preview to collect feedback.

Since the changes are more on the back-end and are meant to improve the speed, size, accuracy and depth of Google search, I am viewing this update as having a bigger impact on how Google handles what people love to call  the “future of search” - semantic and real-time. I am not viewing this update as having a major impact on rankings…at least just yet.

The biggest question is of course how will this update impact SEO? Until it goes live and you can test in a real search environment you just cannot be sure.  In Google’s announcement they mention how most users won’t notice a difference in search results. However, they seem to contradict themselves by saying it will impact accuracy - which to me relates to search results.  My guess is that any changes in the SERP will be based on the inclusion of real-time results as opposed to changes in the foundation of how sites are ranked. Tests that I ran on the developers preview were inconclusive - some differences but nothing that would change my SEO strategies.

As with most changes Google makes to their search engine this is going to have to be a wait and see game. For more information on Google’s Caffeine update check out the links below:

• Google Webmaster Central Blog post that announced the update
• More info on the Caffeine update (via MattCutts.com)
• Matt Cutts Explains Caffeine Update (video)
• Run your own test of Caffeine: http://www2.sandbox.google.com/

I randomly searched for the term “Search Engine” in Google this morning and was very surprised at the results. The three big search engines ( Google, Yahoo and Bing) all ranked below the top 3 prime spots -  Google was 4th, Bing was 5th and Yahoo was 7th.  However, I was more shocked to see  that search engine powerhouse AltaVista came up #1 and my favorite search engine from 1998, Dogpile, came up #2. Of course if Google was in the top spot people would cry fowl, but still…#4? Google you can do better than that. Yahoo on the other hand should just be happy they are on the first page.

Is there any greater buzz right now when it comes to Search Engines then the promise of real-time search? Over the past couple of weeks I have had numerous conversations revolving around the possibilities brought on by Twitter search and the promise of real-time. But, is it really the future of search? Depends on who you ask. I for one see real-time search as being a huge part of where search engines are heading in the not so distant future. However, right now, I am seeing three major issues with any search engine that pushes their “real-time” search results.

• Results
• Relevancy
• Spam

In my opinion the true “Google Killer” will be a hybrid of both real-time and standard “cached” search results. Searching for a current topic like “Swine Flu” you want the most recent results to see what is going on at that very moment and content offering in-depth / credible information.Creating a hybrid search engine offers the best of both worlds and limitless possibilities. Take for example a standard e-commerce query -  a user searches for a product  and the results that comes back are for sites that are not only  selling /  reviewing that product but also real-time results for active coupons that have just been posted. Same thing for news or anything related to current events - real-time results for what is going on at that very moment and standard results for more in-depth information. Now all of a sudden real-time search results are creating more value in the SERP, which is true game changer.

So is the future of search real-time? Yes. But with some modifications…

If you visit Bing.com today you will no longer see the a “coming soon” message - yes Bing, the new Google Killer from Microsoft is live and ready to be used.

So now what?

Well if you play around with Bing long enough you will start to realize that aside from the results being similar to what you saw from Live.com (I am assuming the  new algorithm is slowly being phased in) the new Bing is actually a good search engine. Along with relevant web, image and video results; Bing brings cool (and useful) new search features that aim to enhance the searching experience for users.

Better search engine, cool new useful features and a $100 million ad campaign…so what does this mean for the Search Engine Wars? Easy. Microsoft will gain a percentage of users, Yahoo will lose market share  and Google will still dominate. Looking at the data from Compete.com below, it is obvious that  Microsoft isn’t going to catch Google anytime soon, but if everything goes according to plan they should see the gap close.

The best case scenario for Bing and Microsoft entails a successful massive media campaign that draws a good amount of people to Bing to try it out for themselves. Of those people who visit and actually perform a search, a percentage of them become so impressed by the results / UX  that they either no longer go to Google as their first choice or use Bing as their secondary search engine.

Want another prediction? Bing will become the e-commerce / shopping search engine of choice for millions of people . This is where Bing has the opportunity to be a leader…

I just read an article on AdAge.com that talks about how Microsoft is going after Google with a new ad campaign and a new search engine called Bing. It seems like every few months there is the next “Google Killer” that promises to revolution search. Remember Cuil? Now the buzz is on Wolfram Alpha. The issue isn’t whether or not Google is the best search engine in regards to relevant results - it comes down to the fact that Google is good enough.

The software giant (Microsoft) is set to launch an $80 million to $100 million campaign for Bing, the search engine it hopes will help it grab a bigger slice of the online ad market. That’s a big campaign — big compared with consumer-product launches ($50 million is considered a sizable budget for a national rollout) and very big when you consider that Google spent about $25 million on all its advertising last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence, with about $11.6 million of that focused on recruiting. Microsoft, by comparison, spent $361 million. Certainly Google has never faced an ad assault of anything like this magnitude.

I love the name Bing for an online brand but hate it for the name of a search engine, how soon before we start seeing ads with “Bing! Your search is done” everywhere? Putting the name aside will Microsoft’s Bing be a better search engine? Possibly. Will the average user actually stop using Google because Bing is better? Probably not. Google is firmly entrenched as being synonymous with searching online and that won’t go away anytime soon. Google has the brand association that can not be bought …as long as people continue to  “Google it”, no other search engine stands a chance.

So what should Microsoft do? They should focus their ad campaign on being #2. Admit defeat, crown Google the king and go after Yahoo’s search share. A “We’re #2″ ad campaign will not only be effective but probably save the company millions. But Microsoft has billions in cash so they will have no problem spending whatever they want  - can’t wait to see all those articles talking about how they spent $100 million and upped their market share only 2%.

BING!