At the end of May, Google announced it was adding the option of an SSL encryption to its primary search engine which will protect your network from unfriendly snooping, but could coincidentally render third-party webmasters impotent in tracking traffic and search terms and worrying SEO firms whose techniques involve web analytics.
Google also encrypted its email server gmail earlier this year, and offers an SSL version for Google Docs, Calendar, Web History and Bookmarks. At the moment, SSL search is an optional service, only available when logged in at https://www.google.com, and is not currently compatible with Google Maps and Images.
What is SSL?
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. When searching over SSL, the protocol encrypts your search queries and search traffic information to protect them from being read by any third party, increasing the security of internet communications and data transfers. When SSL search is turned on, any non-SSL sites you visit will stop receiving referral data, eg: which search terms you used to arrive there and even whether you used a search engine or typed in the URL manually.
Will encrypted search cast a shadow on web analytics?
Some people think so, but at the moment the service remains tagged as “beta” and is by no means mandatory. Google are reportedly considering making it a default option, “…once we better understand how it affects users’ search experience,” according to a Google spokesman. But they also anticipate SSL search to slow down search time, and will be more likely to offer it as a default service in response to users who regularly choose the https version over the original. Certainly, it has the potential to throw web analytics into a quandary – if it becomes a popular way to search, trying to track traffic and come to solid conclusions based on these results will be difficult.
But this does not seem dangerously imminent, so calm down everyone. We’re still here…
