I read that Google will start offering SSL search to keep the search safe and encrypted.
Now this does indeed sound as a good thing, it means your searching will be more secure. All you’ll need to do is use https instead of http.
So – is Google really only worried about the privacy of users? Let’s dig a little deeper.
The encryption will naturally not mean anything for Google themselves – they’ll continue to collect the data as they’ve always have. Anything else could be hurting their AdWords and peoples trust in them.
However enabling SSL in search via the https will mean the referrers will be turned off.
“As another layer of privacy, SSL search turns off a browser’s referrers. Web browsers typically turn off referrers when going from HTTPS to HTTP mode to provide extra privacy. By clicking on a search result that takes you to an HTTP site, you could disable any customizations that the website provides based on the referrer information.”
This looks to mean that the search terms aren’t transmitted from the browser to the website, and means that the information about them aren’t collected, by for example Google Analytics.
My first thought was “Google Analytics: Premium Service“.
Google as said still collects the information meaning they can still be coupled in with the website, however if they aren’t immediately accessible from the client, and thus the JavaScript transmitting data to analytics it will mean analytics can’t display them in the current setup.
Is it farfetched to think that Google might divide Analytics up in two services?
One free with basic features, and one premium to buy if you want to know the search terms people enter your site with?
I guess we will see eventually how this SSL affects Analytics. But to return to the AdWords issue once more – if people don’t know which search terms their sites pull in, how would you trust that Google AdWords are actually working and which AdWords to target? You can’t check up on it other than trusting Google. Previously – you could couple the information with Analytics and make deductions on that information.
A side issue is SEO. If the search terms aren’t displayed, then people will be unable to actually figure out which terms the visitors of a site use and how and where to optimize content for the audience.
SEO people often battle it out with search engines because they play the same game.
Search engines wants to provide the most relevant results to a search. SEO people want people to see their content. Google removing or hurting one factor could potentially be another move in that ongoing dance
As both a user of Google’s search and Analytics – I’m torn myself. I welcome the privacy (although Google still records my searching, so privacy of course is to be taken with a grain of salt), but as a professional user of Analytics and SEO, I’m a bit wary of what this could mean as well in that area.
