This doesn't make any sense. If all these users do is search, there's no benefit in them having a Google account. Sure there's saved search functionality, the

This doesn't make any sense. If all these users do is search, there's no benefit in them having a Google account. Sure there's saved search functionality, the data from which can be sold to advertisers, but Google already tracks searches in cookies anyway. If this were the goal, it would just alienate users with the background, and inconveniencing them with a forced signup for next-to-no return.