Google search is currently going through the largest change we’ve seen in probably two years.
Some people ascribe this to the rollout of “Caffeine” which is a software change promoted as being done to improve efficiency of Google’s computers. Supposedly this wasn’t going to much affect search results, and, as is common, Google isn’t talking. But in the last few weeks we’ve seen unusually large swings in rankings (up and down) not connected to any apparent change.
Some of the other things we’ve seen include clear evidence that Google has gotten smarter. For example, we are seeing more variation in from where Google is picking the content for its listing of a page.
We’ve also now seen a one page site with no copy, ranked #1 on organic search for a city in which the company had no presence. It made sense; the page was a portal to three sites for individual stores in locations that ringed the city in question. But Google would never have figured that out before.
We’ve seen Google greatly devalue blog pages on a site over the last few months. Now it seems to be going back in the other direction, at least some.
This is just another example of how you have to stay alert to stay on top of Search Engine Optimization.