Users Blog Google Caffeine: Now They Like It, Now They Don't

Initial reactions to Google's new Caffeine search engine technology by ordinary users have been mixed, with some users finding it capable of generating more hits than the current search engine, while others are complaining about it generating more spam.

Many users took advantage of the official Google Webmaster Central Blog to give their feedback.

At that site, Google engineers asked users to give high-level feedback on the differences they found between the current and new search technologies, along with instructions on how to post feedback and a friendly warning that the engineers would not be able to respond to specific posts.

The positive comments to the new search technology seem to outnumber the negative comments so far.

Many of the users found that they are getting back a greater number of hits from Google Caffeine than from the current search engine.

One user, "bjorn," said he is already receiving twice the number of hits for one of his Web sites. "yeeeh! :-)," bjorn wrote.

Another user, "Ally," wrote, "One thing is for sure, I'm using http://www2.sandbox.google.com/ from now on :)."

Many of the users were more specific.

"Sebastian" wrote that a search on the same expression with the new engine gave 7,170 results compared to 803 results with the old engine. "Results are not the same in three first pages but more relevant. GREAT JOB !," Sebastian wrote.

"Holly" wrote that she has noticed more Twitter pages in the results with the new search engine. "Quite like having that - makes it easier to find people and companies," she wrote.

Other users said they like how the domain names are clustered at the top of the page, and that the results seem to be more pertinent with the new search engine.

However, some users found issues they hope Google will fix in the near future.

Other users also pointed out features they hope will be implemented.

"xomero" said he or she had problems trying to access the new search technology on his or her Symbian phone, and wondered if there was a problem with the Opera browser installed on the phone or whether the new search engine is compatible with mobile users.

"Andrea" found that one of her searches with Google Caffeine was interpreted by the search engine as spam.

She wrote that she received the following error message:

"We're sorry...

"... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.

"We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon. In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious software.

We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on Google."

"Mockidol" responded to Andrea that that message may have resulted from running the search through a company firewall.

"That normally means you are posting from a computer that runs through a big firewall. Are you at work? It used to say that when i searched at my job, all 50 million computers at my job, yes not a lie, go through the same IP so it looked like SPAM. You may have to contact Google to let them know you're a safe IP," Mockidol wrote.

Several users in countries such as Turkey, Australia and Germany said they are waiting to test the local versions of Google Caffeine.