Skip to Content
Uncategorized

Caffeine Injection Gives Google Search a Boost

The next-generation architecture of Google’s Web search service is bigger, faster, and, according to some, shows more real-time results.
August 11, 2009

Yesterday, Google revealed the next generation of its Web search service, code-named Caffeine.

On the surface, the changes introduced by Caffeine seem mostly cosmetic–rearranging the way that images, video, and news stories are displayed on the landing page, for example. But according to some (admittedly unscientific) early reviews, there are more significant differences under the hood.

For instance, Caffeine is undoubtedly faster than the current Google Search, often coming back with results in about half the time. It also appears to crawl many more pages–sometimes twice as many for a particular keyword. And according to some pundits, Caffeine’s results suggest that it also uses a more complex combination of keywords to rank pages.

These changes will be particularly significant for developers, designers, and SEO experts, who rely on understanding how Google’s search algorithms work to make their websites more findable.

Some observers believe that Caffeine is more focused on real-time search results. This would make sense, given rumors that Facebook and Twitter both plan to introduce real-time search services, but I can’t say I noticed much evidence myself.

It’s tempting to see Caffeine as a response to the success of Microsoft’s fledgling search engine Bing, especially in light of last week’s search deal between Microsoft and Yahoo. But, again, I couldn’t see much similarity between Bing and Caffeine. Even so, for the team behind Bing, I’m sure there’s no bigger compliment than seeing Google trying to improve its search functionality this soon.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.

And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.

OpenAI teases an amazing new generative video model called Sora

The firm is sharing Sora with a small group of safety testers but the rest of us will have to wait to learn more.

Google’s Gemini is now in everything. Here’s how you can try it out.

Gmail, Docs, and more will now come with Gemini baked in. But Europeans will have to wait before they can download the app.

This baby with a head camera helped teach an AI how kids learn language

A neural network trained on the experiences of a single young child managed to learn one of the core components of language: how to match words to the objects they represent.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.