There has been a lot of debate in recent months about how different the new Google Caffeine will be to the current Google algorithm.  Apparently, the new Google will be faster, and reach even further into the beast we know as the internet.  This means that social media channels will become more prevalent than they are currently, in Google’s search results.

This is all well and good, but how does the new Google affect my current search rankings?

Well, I’ve been told that if you’re using white hat search engine optimization methods, you won’t have too much to worry about.  But I wasn’t satisfied with that, so I went and did a bit of research and came across these two handy tools.

Choose your weapon for the battle: Google Caffeine up against the current Google

1. Split screen comparison tool

This is probably the most straight forward method of measuring the impacts of the new Google algorithm versus the old Google algorithm.  It splits the screen into two sections, one with SERPs (search engine results pages) from the old Google, and one with the SERPs from the new Google.  It’s very handy, as you can compare the results of each algorithm side by side.  I typed in the keywords “bread digital” and was pleasantly surprised to find that I ranked in the first page of the new Google, but not in the old. Thumbs up Google Caffeine

2. Keyword comparison tool

For those of you who have optimized your website (or individual pages within your site) based on specific keywords, this tool will be of interest to you.  Like the previous split screen comparison tool, this one returns results for both the old and new versions of Google on-the-fly.  The difference with this tool, is that it displays your ranking for each version of the search engine straight up, rather than returning the full set of search engine results for you to have to painstakingly search through .  As I mentioned earlier, this makes it a great tool if your sites are currently finely tuned for specific keywords and you want to validate the effects of the new Google algorithm.

If neither of these tools float your boat, you can always do your own analysis of the new Google Caffeine algorithm using the old and faithful method of opening two separate browser windows.  If this is your desired approach, here is a link to preview the new Google Caffeine – http://www2.sandbox.google.com. You will notice that the User Interface is almost identical to the old version…it is behind the scenes that the big changes have apparently taken place.

If you have any more insights about the new Google, I’d love to hear them, just leave a comment below.

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The competition required entrants to write a jingle, with an accompanying movie clip, about Bing.  All entries were posted to Bing’s YouTube channel (which is a bit of a slap in the face for Google, since Google owns YouTube!).  The movie with highest number of views and rates was deemed the winner.

….ahem….can you believe that the below movie, by Jonathan Mann, is now the official jingle for Bing?

Terrible isn’t it?

But also terribly viral, particularly since it has already been deemed “worst commercial ever” by a couple of large and extremely influential technology blogs.

Hats of Microsoft, you’ve done really well to create some viral stir for Bing, while also introducing some long overdue light-heartedness to your marketing message. This campaign also goes to show that your own marketing department really don’t need to lift a finger (and can get back to more important things, like their game of solitaire

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Instead of trawling the web to produce every single possible piece of web content, in order of relevance (as does Google), Wolfram Alpha aims to provide just one page of relevant information.

Wolfram is “computational knowledge engine” , based on studies by Stephen Wolfram. It aims to provide contextual data related to your search (in the form of statistics, graphs and data analysis based on your search query), rather than simply spitting out a whole bunch of links to potentially relevant information, like traditional search engines do. It will be very interesting to see how Wolfram Alpha progresses, and how this new concept impacts internet usage in the future.

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This is where TweetScan (30-day trial/$15 annual fee) comes in really handy.

Tweetscan is a Twitter-specific search engine that scans all Twitter posts for the keywords you specify and delivers the results to you in a daily email.  In addition, if you visit the Tweetscan website you will find a Google-like search box, allowing you to conduct a live search of the most recent Tweets across the entire Twitter network.

However, Tweetscan’s real value for those who use Twitter as an internet marketing or monitoring tool, is when it is set up to send you the automated daily email. Tweetscan acts as an extra pair of eyes that stay awake while you sleep.

If you are using Twitter as a marketing tool for your business, some suggestions for choosing effective Tweetscan keywords include:

• Your company’s Twitter name,
• Your core products and/or services
• Your brand name
• The names of your top competitors
• And even the keywords that you focus on for SEO and Google Adwords

Tweetscan is a highly valuable tool for anyone using Twitter as a component of their organisation’s online marketing strategy.

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