Will Caffeine Replace Google PageRank?

Since June 2010, Google has let us in on the fact they have completed a new web indexing system. The new system, called Caffeine, will be gaining more momentum in the coming months. Matt Cutts has stated that Caffeine should go live after the holidays.

UPDATE:  As was pointed out by a fellow Serpd reader, Matt Cutts post was from 2009. However, I stand by my thoughts on how Caffeine might change PR priorities. I welcome inaccuracies being pointed out…it’s how we all some of us learn.

What is Caffeine

Caffeine is described as being “real time” web indexing. What this means for you is the possibility that post you just wrote 30 minutes ago will be indexed almost immediately.

Google is striving to give the most accurate and more importantly, up to date information to search queries. All of this on a global scale. So no matter where in the world information is published, it can be indexed in real time. Amazing, eh?

The Focus of Caffeine

The focus of caffeine is relevancy. The bottom line is to provide the end user exactly what they want. If you search “dog food,” then by God you will get the absolute latest, most relevant website pertaining to dog food.

Google has always been focused on providing us, the searchers, with fast answers to our questions. Caffeine is about to ramp up those efforts.

Will Caffeine Replace Pagerank?

With all of the speculation recently on Google ditching PageRank, I thought I would give my two cents. I know you love that! Google has not had a PR update since April 2010.

We assume there may be one coming at the end of the year, but no one knows for sure. So, with the long delay in update and Caffeine being unleashed after the holidays, is there a chance PR will become obsolete?

I don’t particularly think it will become obsolete, but the importance of PR may change. Caffeine could give us some new metrics. Well, not new, but a shift in importance. Since Caffeine will be indexing up to the minute,  frequency of content posting may become a more important factor.

As well, relevancy may become even more important. The more relevant your page is to laser targeted search queries, the higher your Google grade. Social media I believe will also play an important role.

With Twitter updates in real time, the more information Caffeine can index instantly. So, your social media presence will be a valuable tool for Google to consider as well.

The way things are now, contextual links pointing back to your site are viewed as trust in you…a good reputation. I think Twitter and Facebook reputations will become a more integral part of the grading system.

Of course, I can only speculate and offer my own opinion. Those of you more versed in Google workings may have a whole other take on the issue. So, to sum up my thoughts on Caffeine replacing Google Pagerank:
The key factors I see changing are; frequency of posts, laser targeted relevancy, and social media reputation. I don’t know that PageRank could ever totally go away, but it definitely appears to be shifting in priority.

I would love to hear your thoughts…..even if you think I’m nuts!