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It looks like they just enabled SSL for all users, which is defnitely a GOOD thing. These SEO people are confused because I guess it limits some data they would

by anaphor 13y ago

It looks like they just enabled SSL for all users, which is defnitely a GOOD thing. These SEO people are confused because I guess it limits some data they would've normally got, but it's a byproduct of them turning on SSL. It's not some campaign by Google to limit SEO data except insofar as it gets limited by SSL being on.

dmix 13y ago
No I believe SSL is a separate feature that was always-on a while back (or at least optionally so). This feature creates a redirect which hides the original keyword in the referring URL. Which has always been available at https://encrypted.google.com https://encrypted.google.com but now has become default at google.com. The encrypted subdomain confused people, considering it's only adding a redirect, not more encryption.
dangrossman 13y ago
This isn't a byproduct of turning on SSL. If both Google and the site linked to by Google are secure, then the referrer would be intact, and contain the search terms, which is where Google Analytics and every other tracker has picked them up for 15+ years. Google purposely added another level of indirection between their search result page and the search result links themselves. When you click, a bit of JavaScript rewrites the link to a script at google.com/url in order to wipe the real referring URL. Should Google want to do that for reasons other than masking search terms, like recording clickstream data from their SERPs, they could easily add the search term to that google.com/url link's query string. That's exactly what they do for ads -- they transfer search terms through the redirect's referrer even on SSL connections.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- anaphor 13y ago
  It's been this way for a quite a while though, now the only difference is that SSL is enabled for a larger number of people. Also adding the search terms to the url would defeat the whole purpose of using SSL for search at all.
  - dangrossman 13y ago
    If the whole purpose of these changes was to hide the search term from website owners, then turning on SSL everywhere wouldn't be required at all. That was already accomplished with the redirection between the SERP page and the clicked link, which was put in place before SSL was turned on everywhere. There are other purposes. Like preventing governments from recording your long-term search history without a warrant. Frustrating that purpose requires SSL but doesn't require wiping the search term from the referrer as well. It would never be transmitted across an encrypted->unencrypted connection transition per the HTTP spec.
- nwh 13y ago
  The /url redirect has been there as long as I can remember. It's just well hidden from view.
- mikegirouard 13y ago
  > and contain the search terms This would be amazing. Can you cite a source I can use? I made the mistake of launching a [previously heavily optimized] site on the very week the secure switch took place. Explaining this to the client has been a complete disaster for me.
gabeio 13y ago
Plus it's not like it would have really been helping the SEOs all that much. Though they really shouldn't have been relying on it as mush as they were clearly.

by anaphor 13y ago

dmix 13y ago

No I believe SSL is a separate feature that was always-on a while back (or at least optionally so). This feature creates a redirect which hides the original keyword in the referring URL. Which has always been available at https://encrypted.google.com https://encrypted.google.com but now has become default at google.com. The encrypted subdomain confused people, considering it's only adding a redirect, not more encryption.

dangrossman 13y ago

This isn't a byproduct of turning on SSL. If both Google and the site linked to by Google are secure, then the referrer would be intact, and contain the search terms, which is where Google Analytics and every other tracker has picked them up for 15+ years. Google purposely added another level of indirection between their search result page and the search result links themselves. When you click, a bit of JavaScript rewrites the link to a script at google.com/url in order to wipe the real referring URL. Should Google want to do that for reasons other than masking search terms, like recording clickstream data from their SERPs, they could easily add the search term to that google.com/url link's query string. That's exactly what they do for ads -- they transfer search terms through the redirect's referrer even on SSL connections.

deleted 13y ago
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anaphor 13y ago
It's been this way for a quite a while though, now the only difference is that SSL is enabled for a larger number of people. Also adding the search terms to the url would defeat the whole purpose of using SSL for search at all.
- dangrossman 13y ago
  If the whole purpose of these changes was to hide the search term from website owners, then turning on SSL everywhere wouldn't be required at all. That was already accomplished with the redirection between the SERP page and the clicked link, which was put in place before SSL was turned on everywhere. There are other purposes. Like preventing governments from recording your long-term search history without a warrant. Frustrating that purpose requires SSL but doesn't require wiping the search term from the referrer as well. It would never be transmitted across an encrypted->unencrypted connection transition per the HTTP spec.
nwh 13y ago
The /url redirect has been there as long as I can remember. It's just well hidden from view.
mikegirouard 13y ago
> and contain the search terms This would be amazing. Can you cite a source I can use? I made the mistake of launching a [previously heavily optimized] site on the very week the secure switch took place. Explaining this to the client has been a complete disaster for me.

gabeio 13y ago

Plus it's not like it would have really been helping the SEOs all that much. Though they really shouldn't have been relying on it as mush as they were clearly.