Back in August we mentioned a developer preview of Caffeine, which is new technology that improves our indexing infrastructure. The feedback on Caffeine has been very positive, so we’re ready to move from the developer preview to the next stage of the roll out: going live with Caffeine at one data center. This means that a small percentage of Google’s users will benefit from the technology behind Caffeine in their regular searches.
I know that webmasters can get anxious around this time of year, so I wanted to reassure site owners that the full Caffeine roll out will happen after the holidays. 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. 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 minimize the stress on webmasters during the holidays.
Thanks for all the positive feedback that people have given on Caffeine. If you still want to give us feedback on Caffeine, see the original Google Caffeine post for how to do that.
{ 70 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Matt. The link to Caffeine just says thank you. Is there still a site where we can test and compare results?
Very good news. Thanks Matt!
Hey Ryan, we took down the developer sandbox, but when the data center goes live we’ll probably mention the IP address for people who want to check out Caffeine.
good things will take time, like we said in german!
Great news… I imagine there are hundreds of thousands of biz owners breathing a sigh of relief that their sites will continue to rank as expected on the run up to the busiest trading period of the year.
I am guessing we will see this across American search results to start with?
And, just being nosey (sorry), how many people do you have working Google Caffeine?
Thank you for the update – it is very nice of you to keep all of us in the loop!
Hi Matt – in the UK we don’t get to enjoy the thanksgiving festivities!…..by “holidays” do you mean it will be rolled out in early December, or do you mean early January? Thanks.
“minimize the stress on webmasters during the holidays” – Are you looking for some extra gifts this Christmas in exchange for your kindness???
I appreciate you responding to all of the Caffeine news which has been circulating this morning. It’s nice to get details from the source rather than listening to the rumor mill.
Thanks for the update Matt. I’m sure there’ll be many workers needing a dose of caffeine after the holiday and party season
I hope the roll out goes well for Google.
Brian Hancock–happy to help. I saw a few webmasters wondering about the holidays, so I figured it would be good to do a quick blog post to put peoples’ minds at ease.
Matt
Thanks for the sandbox – it was a good tool for site owners to perform a sanity check on some of their key search terms.
We appreciate the open communication that Google provides
“Hi Matt – in the UK we don’t get to enjoy the thanksgiving festivities!…..by “holidays” do you mean it will be rolled out in early December, or do you mean early January? Thanks.”
I don’t think you’ll see Caffeine on multiple data centers before January.
Matt,will we be able to know how the search queries were processed so quick?i am very eager to know the changes you people did to the infrastructure.The response to all search queries were amazing.it was unbelievable.
Are the changes from Caffeine really that large? Enough to worry retailers or people who would be effected by changes in search during the holidays? Or is the roll out delay for the actual Caffeine developers?
Unless there are big changes between now and when Caffeine goes live: I didn’t see much of a change between major search results. If I searched for “flat screen TV” on the Google of today, or on the developer preview, for example, I got the same results.
Is this timeline primarily for webmasters Matt, or for the Google developers?
Either way: exciting!
Dear Matt,
You were damn right about the “anxiety” and this part of the year. Thanks for letting us updated.
Tanner, the changes that users see aren’t that noticeable. We could have rolled out a bit sooner, but we figured it’s better to save webmasters from the stress of worrying about Caffeine around this time of year–plus the extra time lets us collect more data and check for any remaining issues.
Matt,
For some of us caffeine is very welcoming. Just wanted to give my 2 cents that not rolling this out before the holidays is causing more stress then waiting until after. Expecially if the holidays tend to be our busiest season. Juts though I would point that out.. Either way thanks for posting and keeping us informed.
According to original Google Caffeine post,Caffeine lets google push the envelope,but ,with speed,size’s change, ranks will not be changed? Incredible!
Matt, I noticed that the current webmaster tools no longer feature a direct link to report spam in the index, will this be reintegrated with the caffeine update? Are there any other changes planned for webmaster tools with this update, did not see this mentioned anywhere?…thx
I am eager but still a little terrified about any change. Wish the sandbox was still up!
Does that mean that there’s going to be an AJAX API for Caffeine? That would help a lot in testing Caffeine vs. the current existing search results.
I am not sure but I can see already some fluctuation on some high CPL/CPC, tourism, finance, health long tail terms from US Google DC.
right?
Thanks.
Thanks for the update.
My boss asked me 2x weekly when it was going live.
I have performed hundreds of comparison tests using beta vs caffeine. This is more than an “under-the-hood” infrastructure update imo.
I liked what I saw in nearly every ranking difference. My only complaint is that too much weight is still being given to KID urls.
Matt is that roll out in January timed to coincide with Yahoo search being taken over by Bing around the same time or is it just like you said, to give webmasters a breather over Holidays. Will Google update Google Directory before then?
I thought that caffeine was an infrastructure change which will allow more processing, faster indexing and more real time results. My understanding is that the organic results wont change that much from the current algo. Probably no real difference to the end user. Not that the end user notices the differences we SEO’s see anyways. So since the current shift in results is not caffeine what is it herbal tea, or just Google messing with our heads to ensure enjoying the turkey is just a dream.
Dan F, my expectation is that the existing AJAX API will just hit Google’s data centers as normal, so some small percentage of those queries might hit the Caffeine data center just as regular user queries do. After the holidays when Caffeine rolls out fully, then I’d expect the AJAX API to hit Caffeine consistently.
Elias Kai and fionnd, I don’t believe the Caffeine data center is live quite yet, so you’re probably seeing normal ranking fluctuations that are always going on.
Dan London, happy to help. People had been asking about the Caffeine roll out schedule, so it was a good time to give a status update anyway.
Thanks for the heads up. I was concerned about different results but look forward to seeing improvement.
Hi Matt,
Is http://sandbox.l.google.com same as Caffeine?
Thanks
I really like how Caffeine works thus far as well as Google having the common sense to test something, get user feedback, and improve before launching a product. i.e. caff,wave,etc..) I look forward to it and thank you larry, sergey, and the s.e. guys for doing a good job.
p.s. I saw a video you did last week and that got me referred to your blog, funny how things work.
Thanks for the update Matt.
Very much looking forward to Caffeine
great…. I am waiting for you Caffiene…….
Hey Matt!! Is there any Indian is involved in Caffiene Development?????????
Looks like many merchants appreciate the move. Nice of G to be so considerate, although when some go down, others go up – someone gets hurt either way.
Very thoughtful Matt! Can you say anything about when the Google Caffeine update will be rolled out in the Netherlands? Somewhere in a later stage, after all has gone well in the US?
so… as far as I see it, Caffein will be applied to all DCs in the nearest future, replacing the older algorithm?
I think this is a smart move on Google’s part. Thanks for the heads up Matt.
Things are much easier for all of us when Google is open about the timing of these updates.
It saves us from having to dig through all the misinformation and rumours that is out there.
Thanks for the update Matt, I remember a few years ago an update happening just before Christmas and the fuss that caused from the online retailers being hit in their busiest period.
It’s good to know that this will not roll out in the UK until January
*Waits anxiously for the release to see what, if any, impact it has on his results*.
Matt,
Seems like it’s been a while since you posted, so I took a look at your sidebar history. Looks like your 2009 frequency is down about 33% from 2008 and 2007, and down over 50% compared to 2006 – that’s rough figuring, no calculator.
Morris
Matt, can you confirm which holidays. Are you referring to the US Thanks Giving or Christmas?
Thanks much Matt,
It’s an great news, I was waiting to hear on confirmation from some official Google source and you did that.
My boss always used to ask me when Caffeine is going to be launched, I can share this with him now
Hi Matt
Thanks for letting us know beforehand. My assumption on how Google works is that when someone searches, Google questions a number of data centres depending on load and location and you re-sort and compile the best results for delivery.
If one data centre is very different rather than a replica of the others, won’t this cause search results to jump around more?
Julian
I may be the only person in the world who thinks this, but if you’re going to launch something like this, I wish you wouldn’t put a holiday gap into it. It actually adds a slight form of stress, because then those of us who are future thinkers tend to worry about what will happen after the holidays will have Caffeine in the back of their head all through the holidays. Not that this is something I would personally get obsessive over, but if you’re going to do it, the timing would actually be better if you launched it in say mid-October and told us about it in say mid-September so that people have time to be prepared for whatever is coming. Better yet, have a set of relatively predictable date/time periods for launches of new updates, products, services, etc. and corresponding announcement dates (e.g. January 2 for an update launched the day after the Super Bowl, the day after Easter for a new service launched in May, things like that.) You’re obviously not going to satisfy every religious belief or every individual/company holiday, but you can probably avoid things like Christmas, which a lot of people seem to find important these days.
It’s hard to enjoy a vacation of any sort when there’s a nagging (potential) task when you come back. Clean slate all the way and all that.
Spoken like a true American. I.e USA is the World (at least in yankee minds).
Which begs the question, why make it public at all?
BTW, Google is catering more and more to Webmasters than ever before. Sad and bad.
What are you on about today, Dave (original)? I’m starting to think you’re actually a really bad troll on this blog.
Thanks for the heads up, Matt.
I think caffeine is a good upgrade for Google. I just hope that the results are a lot more relevant than those spammy sites.
Hello Matt,
Any chance that Caffeine or some other change-iteration how Google serves-up search results might include a choice to search actual ‘websites’ versus ‘directories’?
Thanks for the info Matt, I checked sandbox.google few days back and saw a message just like this.
@Dave, with a photo like that, I wouldn’t mention the words “troll”, “bad” or “heads” , if you know what I mean
BTW, for those as thick as Dave, when I say “Why make it public at all” I mean why announce anything to *Webmasters* if “the changes that users see aren’t that noticeable”.
Hello Matt.
Question – since page load time is going to start being a factor in rankings in January, is Google going to roll out any tools to show what it perceives page load time of sites to be?
very good news. Lots of people was waiting….for deployement of caffine.
I also wondering when will be next caffeine update, now when there is no Page Rank at all. Thank you, Matt
Thanks for keeping us posted and yes, this does alleviate the “stress” of not knowing.
ars111 do you mean the rumor regarding google not showing PageRank to users by the end of the year? or do you think that with the release of caffeine PageRank is no longer required?
em
Will Google Caffeine support RDFa and other types of Microformats?
em
THX 4 the info
and I think your timing becomes better
than Big Daddy 4 example
and Caffeine sounds like an accelerator
or named you using desinform?
and 2 MW Adam:
I think you want that Matt tells us about the changes after it had happens?
Or never??
And the original Dave:
such international spoken thinking is what the world doesn’t need today
because if I would turn your dictum on to my side saying:
all what most Americans knows is in and about the USA (truly true)
thinking this would be all is only childish
alike your government acts ever and ever on
and now come on please named me an Antiamerican!
Greetings Karl
@Karl, yes, no, or maybe.
Who knows ?
and if so why?
But, then again, is it or was it ?
@Karl: my issue wasn’t with the advance notification. I appreciate the heads-up. My issue was strictly with the timing of the advance notification.
If you’ve ever had a boss or a client either tell you about the stuff you need to do after you get back from a vacation or contact you during a vacation asking you when you’re going to do X, Y, and Z, you’ll know what I mean. You don’t want to think about future work during a holiday period. It makes it much harder to enjoy the holiday.
Again, I recognize that there are holidays all over the world, people take vacations at different times, and Google isn’t going to please everyone with their timing. But something like Christmas, which is celebrated by a large percentage of the global population, is a holiday that is a no-brainer to work around.
Think about this from a slightly different perspective: if your telephone/cell phone/VoIP company decided on December 15 to announce a 10% price hike effective January 1 and you celebrated Christmas (since your name and the site you link to both appear to be German and since Germany celebrates Christmas, I’m going to assume you do), wouldn’t that put a bit of a damper on your holiday celebrations?
That’s the point I was making. It’s not the advance notification…they were right on that. They’re just guilty of a bit of bad timing, that’s all.
I’m looking forward to this!
If anyone considers this message “bad timing” they need to get a life and stop sweating the small stuff. IMO, Matt should have said nothing, as “the changes that users see aren’t that noticeable”.
Karl, sorry mate, no idea what you are trying to convey. Your use of double line spacing makes your words even harder to comprehend.
Very cool of you guys to not stir things up until after the holidays. Our sites looked fine when we checked the sandbox a while back, but you never know what can happen!
2 MW Adam
your correct I am in Germany and understood the problem
here the deepest point of traffic is between July and August
but in the case of USA the best timing would be the January 1 I think
by all that NCAA-Football that day
and no one needs to search 4 that stuff.
2 the original Dave:
In my youth I have had 2 learn ugly things about our history and this through the eyes of your morality. The father comes back from Sibiria only 3 year before I was born.
Still the bible knows, that the bad things in the minds of war-victims of all kinds
lives longer on in the minds of their children and also grandchildren.
I would going in prison if I would cite here the first verse of our hymn
which says alike thinks about Germany, you think about USA.
I know it was veterans day and you was a little bit enthusiastic
but Leader of the Worlds have to want balance and have recognize the whole world in its complexity whiteout nationalistic blinkers.
But 4 a long time your leaders developed the strategy of divide et impere to an art
I heard Obama in China but I have problems 2 believe!
I want 2 help, but no one is able 2 hear (at basic most does not likes the medicine)!
What do you knows about Afghanistan?
Also Obama tries to fetch clan-people living in the mid age in their minds
(this only with cars and modern weapons)
with a weapon under their nose 2 understand modern life in a second!
The very long history of that land, shows every one who wants 2 see,
that there is no way that this will make out.
Alexander the great conquered this land before it became nearly a desert.
Although here he didn’t leave a garrison as he left as normally.
The Clans defeated the UdSSR (with a little helper)
later the helper becomes evil (like other before)
while your government try 2 ignore all warnings (also as mine)
he made the very bad thing and to camouflage their failure G.W. Bush send the world 2 a silly war another time.
This all becomes him two dimensions 2 great, which testify the camouflage in my opinion,
although without achievement it goes on and on. What mid age and clan people mean,
they had 2 know since Blackhawk down, but it seems 2 me
that there no learnung process is from it, still in your new goverment!
It would be much better USA exported the NCAA-Education system than war, I think.
4 two decades I am looking American Football now and I have to say: Pete Carrol rules!
Some years ago I searched 4 a sociology study about the impact of American Football on your society but never found some stuff. This game is, like no other, ideal 2 integrate problematic people and on greater area 2 guide hostility in the right alley. It makes education affordable and it can show people there borders, which otherwise without that guidance would be make big problems.
Such a plan is only bad, because democracy has a big problem with long term strategy.
We all had 2 learn lessons about this. If our political system is unable to develop forward
the Americans are going to lead the world in the biggest collapse of history
only because it is easier 2 destroy, than 2 build the people up like they are!
You don’t believe that, I guess but a little graphic will show you the way.
Take world population from beginning stone age up today on a axis and the time on the other than you sees a long very slowly ascending line, turn-over from horizontal to vertical in between the last 250 years with I. Semmelweis as starting point in a narrow curve.
And at last you ask a mathematician about this curve and he will answer that thats a hyperbole and named x-quad. This indicates a beginning explosion.
Alike you can find by yeast in warm sugar-solution curtly under 10 percent alcohol in it.
<a href="http://www.light2art.de/HyperbelK.JPG"
Turn same the curve down, and it shows you decreasing of living in the ocean (codfish) up today.
It is time 2 solute the problems we are going 2 have and while your president at least says that he want 2 go new ways, you and most in USA , I fear, are going 2 hate it if it is becoming true. It is much easier 2 live from military strength but in our time obsolete. Mankind have more problems than we need without that wars. I hope this will develop the comprehension, that mankind’s problems are also the problems of all Americans.
Karl: that’s almost what I was thinking. Move it back a day or two (January 2-3), though. People tend to suffer from hangovers for some strange reason on January 1. They probably don’t want to read about Google updates then, and I suspect most Westernized Google employees wouldn’t be in any shape to post them.
2 original Dave
Other way said: would China praising their power as the only one on earth here,
would it scratch you in your mind?
Your schoolbooks and the armed forces told you ever and ever
how good strategist your Generals were.
The truth is hard but not new: your sitting on a large landscape, nearly impossible 2 invasion, than out of Mexico or Canada. This position of strength they used 2 go 2 war. They strengthen your industry and them strengthen the Forces. A little bit of good will, much own interest and some times camouflage or political diversion (some casus belli driven) are the most reasons 4 wars USA gone in the past. And if I would explain the reason on which way the industrial base grew up quickest?
Your strategist have less strategy than mass of power and confidence.
Here our problem starts 2 become hot I think.
But think about this:
no slogan alike: you ever do nice and right
would help anyone!
any system needs a advocatus diaboli I think
and your gov is only: betriebsblind (sorry)
would you like a strategy like I think the Navy needs?
Build an atomic driven Submarine-Carrier with 24 hydrogen driven Minis on it.
In federation with some frigates and their helicopters working
piracy would be risky job around the world soon.
PS: 2 try html here never works 4 me, last time it disappears and now this awkward above
Some one here who thought about multitasking by a human brain?
Or better: who named them John and Jane?
By the way my complete name is Karl-Heinz
so it was easy 2 delegate charging while playing 3D Stellar 7
on my apple 2e about 3 decades ago
later this skills were upgraded from MegaHz 2 GigaHerz
but at about C&C 3 Red Alert it became 2 hard 4 the body.
the cooling capacity is one bottleneck of my brain
the stomach is my other.
And now, while becoming older
this habit is beginning 2 become a little font of faults 2 me from time 2 time.
Than it needs work 2 think only about the work you do just this moment
maybe it is only my fibromyalgia (some one needs 2 know it’s reason?)
Sorry, Karl, not interested and don’t have time to read all your posts. I’m sure whatever point you were trying to make was a good one, though
“Hey Ryan, we took down the developer sandbox, but when the data center goes live we’ll probably mention the IP address for people who want to check out Caffeine.”
Matt, Do you mind sharing the address?
Yeah; 2 original Dave
wasn’t basic 2 US
you found the answer
asking 4 reaction of your own typical behavior
and the effect on the USA’s reputation in the world it have
and than acting like as awaited
as long as it don’t touch them 2day
ignoring is one of the two American ways 2 solve the spurious
like all good leaders doe today!
Two years ago I asked here 4 a forum 2 discuss things like that above there
with the same names and the same people which comments here and on a place controlled by Google.
Now I suggest a an international blog where only invited people can blog and comment.
The INTERNET is market place, education, shop and wall of graffiti’s or propaganda but most of all an entertainment-place 4 our young generations. Up 2 this moment I can’t see any power at all in this communities that would be able 2 develop an own way. I have had a blog 2 discuss strategics items but no one came before I lost notion and close it.
If there may be a way out of x²-population-gain, we have 2 discuss without blinkers and beside our governments 2 find it. They are not only unable 2 see, often them against all before them could see anything.
Alike some people here. One (Austrian) was able to heard my message I worked 4 half the day. The graphic only looked a handful people, but some 4 times (out of a place populated like the Ruhrgebiet in Germany). Is some one out there, thinking evolution will buy, what Hollywood’s propaganda (named by me: Knall, Bum und Peng) and the media-military complex wants 2 make you believe?
We all knows that THE truth is made by winners and we all know that our schoolbooks tells us only one perspective. But, like in detective stories, the theme often is translucent.
I see Billionaires on their yacht (like Corvettes 2 my time on sea) and think: what must them debased in their own mind be, that they need such a memorial. I can show you many real big memorials around the world out of the last 5K in mankind’s history. Around nearly each, thousands of tourist are gazing up 2 it and understood nothing about the crisis it’s stand 4.
Scientist don’t want 2 see and more speak about it (no money in it 4 a research contract but mobbing guarantied) but there were civilization clashes around the Atacama as well as in Samarkand. Pharaohs first capital had to relocate twice because environmental damage they did 2 the woods uphill. They needed construction timber 2 build memorials that should be shows the greatness (more the ignorance) of the sovereign.
Edible snail in the Atacama found tells one part of the depletion of resources the Nasca stones the other.This is the pattern of minimal 5 isolated places in history and 2day we are looking at comparable pattern.
If no one answers this call, no later than mid century there will be also people praying like the Nasca. They made the biggest pictures in mankind’s history but no god sees them. They made Eden 2 desert in eight centuries, although their pyramids only out of adobe. At Samarkand Tamalan the Great deserted an orchard with it’s elaborated watering system of the native. He the warrior rules over the natives (rubbish farmers, them also build with adobe). Not only that he build the nicest and biggest mosque out of baked bricks after he established his regime. No, it must be colored and glazed tile on it, 2 praise Mohamed, as he said.
Next time it will be no isolated clash, it will be global if all is going on, like it normally does.
Look around by yourself!
You will see extremes all the way you look. The problems comes quicker and the politicians act slower every time. Millions live where backwards always only mangrove grew. Despite all high-tech desertification cumulates on and on. No way our government will defeat the problems that becomes greater until. This may be even a tactical advantage 4 them, because opposition would be the next government and in tis case it would be their (greater problem) 2 solve.
I know a lot of worry does befall webmasters during a new algo role out, when testing in the sandbox I didn’t see much of a difference. will some sites plummet or will we see just some minor shuffling.