Google recently announced that they are working on an algorithm update called Google Caffeine, which is being referred to as a next-generation architecture for Google’s web search. The beta version of Caffeine is available for testing and comparisons at http://www2.sandbox.google.com. Generally, Google has been known to make algorithm updates as frequently as monthly, but the hype surrounding this particular update is leading industry experts to believe that the algorithm changes being made under Caffeine are more significant than most routine updates.

Matt Cutts openly discussed Google Caffeine and some of the changes it will include at SES San Jose this August. According to Cutts, the changes will mostly take place “under the hood” of the engine and should be transparent to normal users. However, web developers, SEOs and other power searchers might notice fluctuations. Google has also created an outlet for Googlers to participate in giving the engineers feedback on the differences, whether they are good, bad or indifferent.

The main updates that the new version of Google is expected to encompass are:

• A larger index of content
• A faster return on queried results
• A more relevant result set

According to tests, the new version of Google is living up to most of the expectations. In a recent article on Mashable by Ben Parr, he conducted various test to compare the new algorithm changes to the current version of Google. He was able to show that queries on Google Caffeine did indeed return results more quickly and the index showed a larger result set than regular Google. He also concluded that the new Google algorithm appears to be more reliant on queries being closely tied to keyword phrases in the title in order to rank well.

Other resources such as SEOBook are noticing an increased weight being placed on domain authority, an improved semantic understanding and a decrease in universal search elements such as video and pictures.

Although right now the differences between the result sets of Google and Google Caffeine do appear to be vast, we have to keep in mind that the beta version of Google Caffeine available to the public now may not be the final version that is launched at Google.com. It’s a good idea to test the results yourself and try to provide feedback to Google in a nonpartisan manner.