Google Caffeine Set to Launch: Will Your eCommerce Business be Affected?

Google’s new and improved search, AKA “Caffeine” is set to launch right after the first of the new year.

For those of you who don’t already know about Caffeine, it is Google’s brand new way of choosing which websites will show up when someone searches for info on the internet.

The criteria are changing, and many ecommerce entrepreneurs are justifiably nervous about how Google Caffeine will affect them.

What is different about Caffeine?

For one thing, Google has incorporated new ranking factors that will determine your website’s placement in search results. These new rankings don’t replace the old ranking factors, they’re add-ons.

Google, being the king of the search engine mountain for lo, these many years, undoubtedly wants to hold that position. Therefore, they are constantly honing and refining ways to stay on top by being the best search engine of them all.

Here are some of the new factors in Google Caffeine:

Speed, or how fast your website loads.

Broken links.

Bad neighborhood links. This means don’t have links to spam sites or sites that are known for hosting paid links.

Page factors, which include unique design, relevant and unique content and titles, clear navigation, keyword density (no black hat!) and relevant descriptions.

Analytically, Caffeine will be looking at bounce rates, page views, page view time, traffic and usage figures.

Social bookmarks, Caffeine will look at how many times your website/page has been added to a social bookmarking site.

In a nutshell, Google Caffeine is not just business as usual with a few minor tweaks here and there. It’s a whole new Google!

To get a better idea of what Google Caffeine actually is and how it might impact your business, here is a YouTube video with Google’s Matt Cutts, as he explains some things about Caffeine.

eCommerce business folks will have to get with the program and learn all they can about Google Caffeine, or risk being left by the wayside in SERPs!