Google Gets 'Proactive' on Privacy

Google has cut off one source of information for web analytics systems, citing concern for its users' privacy. As of October 18th, 'organic search' queries carried out by end users logged into products like YouTube, Gmail and Google+ will no longer be available to its own or others' systems.

Systems affected include proprietary analytics systems including WebTrends, Coremetrics, Adobe SiteCatalyst and Google's own products including Google Analytics.

Customers logged into the Google services are served content based on previous browsing history and therefore their searches are deemed to be personalized, although it appears it would already have been very difficult for a third party to track this data to an individual level.

The changes do not affect paid search or customers not logged into the platform, and Google will continue to provide total search volume. The company says the change affects less than 10% of its search queries, and informs customers who use any of the above analytics services what they will see an immediate drop of up to 10% in their reported searches - this may rise if Google is successful in increasing the services' user base. In the short term there will inevitably be some confusion for advertisers, marketers, SEOs and market researchers tracking the success of campaigns.

The move does not appear to be a direct response to any specific criticism or legal requirement, and has been greeted with approval by The American Civil Liberties Union who describe the move as a promise that 'no search queries that have been personalized will be available to any third party' and call it 'a significant step forward'.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.