Experts Blog

The Next Google Chrome Update Encrypts ALL Searches

By Kristi Hagen on Feb 04, 2013 - 10:33 AM

Currently in beta, Chrome 25 will soon encrypt ALL Google searches performed in its Omnibox, the URL bar. Previously, the encrypted searches were only available to Google users who were signed into their accounts.

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On one hand, they are protecting user privacy by encrypting the searches. For example, if you were searching for “50 Shades of Gray” at a coffee shop that had an open wireless connection (no password) and your search was UNencrypted - any person could use free software to monitor your web searches and basically unencrypted site you visit.

We all want to feel safe in the ‘privacy’ of our own laptops, right? Many large sites, like Facebook, have increasingly moved to https:// versus http:// to help users have a sense of security with all the personal data these large companies are collecting on them.

On the other hand, when you are losing out on the search terms that drive traffic to your site then it's much harder to optimize. In other words, the percentage of [Not Provided] information is on the rise in a big way!

People want privacy and SEOs want to know what customers are looking for. For now, your consolation prize is that Google Webmaster Tools retains the top 2,000 search terms for you site in the past 90 days.

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