4 ms·

making it about privacy is playing an emotional card when it should really be a technical discussion. Hiding a query string isn't "privacy" in any meaningful se

by tjpick 18y ago

making it about privacy is playing an emotional card when it should really be a technical discussion. Hiding a query string isn't "privacy" in any meaningful sense. It's beneficial for you to tell a webmaster what it is that you have come looking for. I'm in two minds about the issue though. Google don't have a contract to supply the searchterm on outgoing links (via the referrer or otherwise) but for many applications it was a pretty useful thing for them to do. Arguably their only resource there is a single search page which is dynamic depending on your query string - to me this says ?q=searchterm is the semantic way to represent it, but hey it's their application so they can "design" it however they want. On the other hand, urls are about as explicit as you can get on the web and google's are more publicised than most. Changing your public API is asking for trouble.

semiquaver 18y ago
It's beneficial to the webmaster, not the user. If most people were presented with a choice of whether or not to provide this information, they'd decline.
- tjpick 18y ago
  It's win-win. If a webmaster knows that traffic is coming in for a specific term and how long that traffic sticks around, they can decide whether they have sufficient content there to keep those users happy. If not, they can add content or tweak the site, which benefits the user.
  - semiquaver 18y ago
    If a user comes across a site because of a google search, it's more likely than not that he's there for a specific purpose and does not plan on returning. If the webmaster is able to glean useful information from his behavior and use that to improve his site, then it's possible that users in general are better off, but the original user is long gone.
- GeneralMaximus 18y ago
  You walk into a store, can't find what you were looking for and leave without a word. You keep doing the same for a month, and keep blaming the store for not stocking enough items. Wouldn't just telling the seller what you're looking for benefit both of you?
  - gb 18y ago
    That analogy doesn't really work - if they came to your site from a particular search term it would seem likely the content is already there. Even if people are reaching a site based on a mismatched keyword, I wouldn't have thought many people check their logs and update their site because they're getting a lot of hits from a particular term they don't have much for?
    - GeneralMaximus 18y ago
      True. I was kinda looking at it from my own perspective. My blog usually gets hits from people looking for "college education india". I can retarget my content towards college students, put up a few AdSense ads and make some cash. Of course I wouldn't do that, since my blog is strictly personal, but I think it's a viable strategy to drive more content towards your site.

by tjpick 18y ago

semiquaver 18y ago

It's beneficial to the webmaster, not the user. If most people were presented with a choice of whether or not to provide this information, they'd decline.

tjpick 18y ago
It's win-win. If a webmaster knows that traffic is coming in for a specific term and how long that traffic sticks around, they can decide whether they have sufficient content there to keep those users happy. If not, they can add content or tweak the site, which benefits the user.
- semiquaver 18y ago
  If a user comes across a site because of a google search, it's more likely than not that he's there for a specific purpose and does not plan on returning. If the webmaster is able to glean useful information from his behavior and use that to improve his site, then it's possible that users in general are better off, but the original user is long gone.
GeneralMaximus 18y ago
You walk into a store, can't find what you were looking for and leave without a word. You keep doing the same for a month, and keep blaming the store for not stocking enough items. Wouldn't just telling the seller what you're looking for benefit both of you?
- gb 18y ago
  That analogy doesn't really work - if they came to your site from a particular search term it would seem likely the content is already there. Even if people are reaching a site based on a mismatched keyword, I wouldn't have thought many people check their logs and update their site because they're getting a lot of hits from a particular term they don't have much for?
  - GeneralMaximus 18y ago
    True. I was kinda looking at it from my own perspective. My blog usually gets hits from people looking for "college education india". I can retarget my content towards college students, put up a few AdSense ads and make some cash. Of course I wouldn't do that, since my blog is strictly personal, but I think it's a viable strategy to drive more content towards your site.