Not to worry, Google has said that they will hold this huge algorithm update until after the holidays, but except a new algorithm called Caffeine to roll out late December early January. Huge updates and strategic changes end up with names. The last really massive one that turned webmaster’s world upside down was called Florida and it was infamous. In fact the changes were so big that with all the squawking after the update Google actually tweaked it and softened the impact. But needless to say many sites had their organic placement take a huge nose dive.
I just read this article and I think it is the best one in regards to explaining in fairly simple terms what webmasters think will happen with this update. You can read the full article here. The author Titus Hoskins supposes what will be in the update, but I have to say I could not agree more.
One of the biggest takeaways from this is that we suspect Google is changing how they value links as a factor for organic search placement.
Hoskins says, “The major question here is this: has the importance of backlinking been downplayed in this new index in favor of the keyworded domain and onsite content and optimization? Has there been a major shift to listing more quality content rather than relying on the number of backlinks a site is receiving, even from important related themed sites? The major problem and question to Google is this: if links can be bought, how do you keep your organic results democratic and fair, which was the original intention of Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they started Google in 1998.”
This is a very valid point. Hoskins goes on to propose that the new update will more heavily weight social bookmarking which is much more difficult albeit nearly impossible to scam. Interesting supposition considering that not everyone is using social bookmarking tools.
We can predict some things as Google has rolled Caffeine out to one data center so far and allowed webmasters early sandbox review of the new algorithm in an unprecedented rollout several months ago.
1. Links are devalued but to what extent we are not sure.
2. Content is again king and now becomes even more important.
3. Load speed of your website may now be a factor. Google has rolled out several speed clocking tools and has really put the word out on the Matt Cutts blog that speed is Queen next to content being King.
4. It appears that keyword domains will rank better in the new update.
5. On page factors will be more important than previously, Hoskins states, “‘OnPage Factors’ to play a much greater role in Google Caffeine. Quality unique content, page design, good navigation, title, meta tags, description, keyword density, alt tags, page views, bounce rate, traffic numbers, time spent on page, and the number of social bookmarks may play an increased role in achieving high rankings.” I would agree several patent disclosures ago Google stated that it was watching these figures and I could see that in the long run click and traffic activity would be coming in to play and it appears that Caffeine is the update where these factors finally are being considered.
6. Social bookmarks may be considered key organic factors. Here, I am not sure, but it does make sense. Social bookmarking is like a vote for content or popularity. You cannot buy this kind of traffic it happens naturally. It makes sense that Google who likes to level the playing field and reward performance not scamming would consider this important.
Take some time to read this excellent article so you will have a good understanding of what will be happening with your website most likely in late December to early January.