Impact of SSL Search

Google has introduced encrypted search per 17th of October. It rolled out initially on google.com

The introduction of this so called ‘making search more secure‘ strategy caused quite a stir and ongoing discussion takes place here, here and in our own State of Search podcast here.

At the beginning the impact seemed to be in the single digit numbers being about 2%-3%. Last week I started to notice a dramatic increase on these numbers, so I decided to do some historical reporting on the percentiles.

The rise of the numbers started per 31st of October and this appears to be happening on different types of websites and across industries. The numbers now reach the figures of +10% and people are seriously getting worried.

Not Provided on State of Search

Did the roll out finish already?

According to Google the roll out was expected to take place in several weeks. Currently only Google.com is taking part in this roll out. We expect this rollout to occur soon in different places and not just on google.com.

Will I still be able to proper analysis or reporting?

With numbers reaching the double digits and averaging 10%-15% you would say there is a huge loss of data there that might have proven to be very valuable for your onsite optimization. It would be an interesting case to see if Google Webmaster Tools is able to give you a general idea of keywords used that do not show up in your keyword reports. Will this SSL change impact the trend on your keyword reports? Did your Adwords Search Query report just became a whole lot more important? Do you think this change affects the way SEOs or web analysts do their job? And did you already explain this SSL change to the people you are reporting to?

Martijn Beijk

Martijn Beijk is an SEO & Web Analytics consultant, international speaker and lecturer. He is one of the participants of the Local Search Ranking Factors. More articles and bio from Martijn Beijk