The encryption of search data by Google
Received lot’s of coverage yesterday one of the best analysis and opinion gathering pieces can be found on Search Engine Land (read article here) the great follow up piece with lots of SEO industry opinion can be read here.
Who does this effect?
- Google.com users signed into Google accounts.
- People using Google analytics, matching website visitors to the keywords they used.
How are they affected?
Google.com users signed into a Google account will now have https:// secure connections.
This means that any search performed whilst signed in and any keyword / search term information will not be passed on to third party tools like Google analytics.
While the number of users who search whilst signed into Google is small Matt Cutts estimates less than 10%. It is still a meaningful amount of information which will not be available especially relevant to SME’s.
The only way to see this data is if a visitor clicks on a paid Google ad. Google is steadily erroding the commecial viability and usefulness of organic search.
This update has massive impact for SEO and organic search results. If the number of Google Apps users rises then targeting search terms will be incredibly difficult without paying for the data via an AdWords campaign.
Keep on the lookout for further Google announcements as the company seeks new ways to monetise the visitor data which users produce.
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