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Google has promised 50% "fresher" search results as it introduces a new index system called Caffeine.

First announced last summer, Caffeine is Google's latest way of keeping track of changes ono the web, so it can offer more relevant and recent search results.

The previous index was made up of different categories of information that was updated at different rates, with the main layer refreshed every couple of weeks, according to software engineer Carrie Grimes.

"With Caffeine, we analyse the web in small portions and update our search index on a continuous basis, globally. As we find new pages, or new information on existing pages, we can add these straight to the index," Grimes explained. "That means you can find fresher information than ever before—no matter when or where it was published."

"Whether it's a news story, a blog or a forum post, you can now find links to relevant content much sooner after it is published than was possible ever before," added Grimes.

Because Caffeine is constantly updating, Google is processing hundreds of thousands of web pages every second. Google said the new indexing system is the largest collection of web content it has offered to date.

"Caffeine takes up nearly 100 million gigabytes of storage in one database and adds new information at a rate of hundreds of thousands of gigabytes per day," Grimes explained.

Google said the first release of Caffeine is only the start, and more improvements will arrive in the coming months.