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"The only reason I've heard to not prevent search leakage is that marketers use Referrer info to do better search engine optimization (SEO). But the informatio

by bromley 16y ago

"The only reason I've heard to not prevent search leakage is that marketers use Referrer info to do better search engine optimization (SEO). But the information doesn't have to disappear, just the current mechanism of transferring the information in a personally identifiable way." I struggle to see how this could work in a way that's a fraction as useful to webmasters as the current system. Sites that sell things like to tie keywords to conversions. They can learn, for example, that keyword X drives sales, but keyword Y doesn't, and assign resources accordingly. Online businesses become more efficient, and searchers get more of what they want. I think it's largely a good thing all round. My respect goes to DuckDuckGo for coming up with a clever way to differentiate themselves from their competition. However, if the problem is that sites are inadvertently sharing keywords with third-party ad networks, then point the finger at those ad networks, not at Google. Blaming Google makes about as much sense as blaming Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer and the web in general for sending referrers in the first place.

dminor 16y ago
Another issue with this is that it gives Google Analytics a pretty dominant advantage. Suddenly all other analytics packages are shut out of Google search query data, unless Google is benevolent enough to create an API for it.
calbear81 16y ago
Thank you for pointing this out bromley. I've been reading Gabriel's responses and in no place does he mention that keyword level data is needed for understanding differences in user behavior based on entry keyword. This might not make a difference if you run a content site, but for any type of commerce site, I don't want to know how "Google" does, I want to break it down to the keyword level and better understand where efforts should be focused. I also don't think that the keywords are shared with 3rd party networks explicitly. I think what's happening instead is that you search for something, you land on a page relevant to that something, and the ad network code is reading the content on the page and assigning a keyword target or theme to your search. For example, you might search for a Ford F-150 and you get to Edmunds and the ads are sold on a "by make/model" basis using ad segmentation so the ad network now can assign your cookie a "Pickup trucks" behavioral tag but it never had to read the referrer header, it was implied.

by bromley 16y ago

dminor 16y ago

Another issue with this is that it gives Google Analytics a pretty dominant advantage. Suddenly all other analytics packages are shut out of Google search query data, unless Google is benevolent enough to create an API for it.

calbear81 16y ago

Thank you for pointing this out bromley. I've been reading Gabriel's responses and in no place does he mention that keyword level data is needed for understanding differences in user behavior based on entry keyword. This might not make a difference if you run a content site, but for any type of commerce site, I don't want to know how "Google" does, I want to break it down to the keyword level and better understand where efforts should be focused. I also don't think that the keywords are shared with 3rd party networks explicitly. I think what's happening instead is that you search for something, you land on a page relevant to that something, and the ad network code is reading the content on the page and assigning a keyword target or theme to your search. For example, you might search for a Ford F-150 and you get to Edmunds and the ads are sold on a "by make/model" basis using ad segmentation so the ad network now can assign your cookie a "Pickup trucks" behavioral tag but it never had to read the referrer header, it was implied.