Google to block referrer data for logged in users

[Chip Grueter]

Posted on their blog here:

Official Google Blog: Making search more secure

This, right now, will only affect logged in users, which should give Google a pretty good Beta test period before rolling it out for all queries. What does this mean? Sites will no longer receive the keywords someone used to find your website from Google. This will make it very hard to monitor and measure an SEO campaign. Sites will NEED to sign up for their Webmaster Tools product (free(ish)) to get a list of the top 1000 terms your site was clicked over for.

What does this also mean? Any sort of behavioral or targeting your website does based on the search term will stop functioning (again, for logged in users only right now).

I haven't been able to track down any info on whether or not Google Analytics Premium will be affected by this change too, but I suspect this data will still be available. Regular Analytics users will NOT have access to this data.

-1 Google.

Chip-

 

[mattwatson81]

Posted on their blog here:

Official Google Blog: Making search more secure

This, right now, will only affect logged in users, which should give Google a pretty good Beta test period before rolling it out for all queries. What does this mean? Sites will no longer receive the keywords someone used to find your website from Google. This will make it very hard to monitor and measure an SEO campaign. Sites will NEED to sign up for their Webmaster Tools product (free(ish)) to get a list of the top 1000 terms your site was clicked over for.

What does this also mean? Any sort of behavioral or targeting your website does based on the search term will stop functioning (again, for logged in users only right now).

I haven't been able to track down any info on whether or not Google Analytics Premium will be affected by this change too, but I suspect this data will still be available. Regular Analytics users will NOT have access to this data.

-1 Google.

Chip-

Wow this is crazy. Almost sounds like an April Fools joke. This will effect a lot of things and hurt behavioral type marketing.

Forget trying to dynamically optimize your site content for what people were searching for.

 

[joe.pistell]

Requires google user login. Small impact, <10%

 

[mattwatson81]

Requires google user login. Small impact, <10%

But that probably includes anyone who uses gmail, Google +, etc. Anyone who has an Android phone has a google account and is probably logged in most of the time.

 

[Brian Podolak]

I think will be over 10% and grow VERY fast..

 

[flosho]

So basically if an internet surfer is logged in to a google service and searches using google, website owners will have to pay extra money to use the google tool(s) to see the information google extracts from the websurfer. Sounds like some sort of monopoly.

"Hey we're blocking this info, but if you pay for this extra service we offer we'll show you the info again."

 

[john.quinn]

Is it possible that Eric Cartman is the real brains behind Google?? Eric Cartman - Screw You Guys I'm Going Home - YouTube

 

[Joey]

My fear is that this gets implemented on all searches whether people are logged into Google or not. I also think this is a bit hypocritical of Google to strip the keyword data on organic but still provide it on paid search.

 

[joe.pistell]

You got it Flosho. Google is morphing into the evil empire. And to think I was worried about China taking over the world.

 

[flosho]

You got it Flosho. Google is morphing into the evil empire. And to think I was worried about China taking over the world.

Scary, considering I was just looking through some reports and Google refers traffic over 5 times more often than the next search engine (Bing).

Sadly I don't think there is any easy way to regulate what Google is doing?!