An Easy Way To Check What Referrer Data Google, Bing Or Yahoo Pass To Your Secure Site

With the three major search engines migrating their default searches to secure search, over SSL/HTTPS, marketers and webmasters want to know what referrer and analytics data will be passed to them and what won’t.

The majority of Google is secure search, Yahoo yesterday defaulted all searches to be conducted over SSL, and Bing is currently testing SSL search for those who opt in.

Testing Referrer Data From HTTPS Search To HTTP URL

The default protocol for passing referrer from an HTTPS URL to a non HTTPS URL is to not pass any referrer data at all. Both Yahoo and Bing comply with that, while Google passed google.com as the referrer in this case. How do I know? I tested it by searching Google, Yahoo and Bing for [what is my referrer] and then clicked on the www.whatismyreferer.com listing.

You see the listing in the search engine:

Then if you click on it, the destination page will show your referrer data:

Bing and Yahoo pass no referrer data at all in this case, as it should – due to the HTTPS protocol.

Testing Referrer Data From HTTPS Search To HTTPS URL

The default protocol is for HTTPS URLs to pass referrer data to another HTTPS, because it is being passed from a secure channel to another secure channel. Google doesn’t pass all the referrer data, they pass as much as they do from HTTPS to HTTP, as I cited in the example above. Bing and Yahoo do pass all the referrer data, as they should due to the HTTPS protocol. It passes both the referrer site and the query data.

But there is no way to search for an HTTPS version of a “what is my referrer” site. So I made one. Now you need to search for [what is my secure referrer] andhttps://referer.rustybrick.com/ should show up. As you see, the tool is on an HTTPS page, so referrer data can securely pass from a secure Google, Bing or Yahoo URL but do they? As I write this, Google shows it on the first page, towards the middle of the results. Bing and Yahoo have yet to index it but it will soon.

If you click on that from Google, it shows you that Google is only passing that the click came from Google but strips out any keyword data:

If you click on the search result from the secure Bing search results, you will see the full referrer details, including the referrer source, the query and more:

Why isn’t Google complying? I am not sure. They are encouraging webmasters to migrate their sites to run on SSL in their literature. But I know tons of webmasters that would make the switch overnight if Google would pass query data to them if they went over SSL.

Google To Replace Smartphone User-Agent To Improve Smart Phone Indexing

Google announced they are replacing the old smartphone crawler user-agent with a new one in order to make it possible for Google to index more smartphone content.

Zhijian He, a smartphone search engineer at Google said that the previous user-agent “made it impossible for Google to index smartphone content of some sites, or for Google to recognize that these sites are smartphone-optimized.”

The new smartphone user-agent crawler will follow robots.txt, robots meta tag, and HTTP header directives for Googlebot instead of Googlebot-Mobile. This will give webmasters more control, but Google said it should only impact less than 0.001% of URLs.

The new user-agent is launched in 3-4 weeks or so.

The new Googlebot for smartphones user-agent:

Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0 Mobile/10A5376e Safari/8536.25 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)

The Googlebot-Mobile for smartphones user-agent we will be retiring soon:

Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0 Mobile/10A5376e Safari/8536.25 (compatible; Googlebot-Mobile/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)




Facebook To Start Running Ads In Mobile Apps, Building Foundation For Mobile Ad Network

Facebook announced january 22nd on its developer blog that it will begin running ads in third-party mobile apps, laying the foundation for what will likely become the site’s mobile ad network.

From the announcement:

We are running a small test to explore showing Facebook ads in third-party mobile apps. In this test, we’ll be extending Facebook’s rich targeting to improve the relevancy of the ads people see, provide even greater reach for Facebook advertisers, and help developers better monetize their apps.

Facebook says it’s working “directly” with a small number of advertisers and publishers, and is limiting this test run to a only a few partners.

While Facebook is not accepting any additional participants in its mobile ad program right now, the site has provided a sign-up form for anyone who wants updates on the program.

Samsung Galaxy S5: 7 Absolute Reasons Why You Need to Upgrade from Galaxy S4 or S3

Galaxy S4 begins ageing upon the official launch of Galaxy S5 on April, but the newest smartphone will come in such a steep price. Is the upgrade cost of up to €800 on the metallic Galaxy S5 worth leaving the Galaxy S4 or S3 this year?

Let's Talk About SpecsThe Galaxy S5 hardware specs are no joke compared to the close relation between the Galaxy S4 and S3 last year. For at least €800 or €650 (plastic), buyers will get a 5.25 inches of screen size, qHD 2,560 x 1,440 display resolution, Android 4.4 KitKat, 16 MP rear camera shooter, brand new Exynos 6 octa-core or Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core processor and other extras on the Galaxy S5.

Upgrading to the next-gen Galaxy S handset brings bigger screen, better display, improved RAM, no need to wait for Android 4.4 update, very well improve Exynos processor, much powerful camera than the current Galaxy S4 or S3 and new additional technologies.

Power Enhancements

Samsung adds 300 mAh to the battery of the Galaxy S4 and packs this on the Galaxy S5 which uses rapid charging. The battery of the S5 is made up of a special new type of Li-ion which stores 20 per cent more energy than the standard type in the market.

In addition, battery life is expected to last longer due to its new processor type that consumes 50 per cent less than the previous version and updated TouchWiz which holds an improved Power Saving tool. The Galaxy S4 or S3 may get these software improvements from the Android 4.4 update, but it is still better to get improvements right from the core.

Galaxy S Exclusives

Due to the new hardware technology of the Galaxy S5, expect great enhancements on Samsung exclusive apps and services. Fans of these apps can expect the Galaxy S5 to feature improved touch solutions with hovering detection, shortening the distance than previous versions on the Galaxy S4 and S3. The feature will be used by Air View.

Even if with an updated Android 4.4 KitKat-running Galaxy S4 or S3, users will not get the same snappiness and performance of these apps like that in the Galaxy S5.

New Added Security

The Galaxy S5 features a new security technology embedded right on the display. The fingerprint sensor scans a user's fingerprints on the screen instead of using the home key as what Apple did on the iPhone5S. This new tech isn't something the Galaxy S4 and S3 can replicate due to hardware limitations.

New UI, Themes and Icons

Those who love TouchWiz and already got bored with the current version on the Galaxy S4 or S3 may want to consider the magazine-style UI, new icons and new notifications on the Galaxy S5. Samsung decided to upgrade the "boring" design of TouchWiz from the previous Android version. The new UI is now available on Galaxy Note 12.2 and Galaxy Tab 10.1 Pro Editions.

Better One-Hand Operation

Since the Galaxy S5 boasts a bigger screen like the Galaxy Note, Samsung improved its one-hand operation mode. Users will be given the opportunity to choose which corner they want to use for this function that allows the use of one hand with all kinds of apps, notifications or calls.

Unlike the current one-hand operation on Galaxy Note devices, users may actually customise the one-hand function as if creating shortcuts on their favourite corner.

Android 4.4 KitKat is Installed

Obviously, Android 4.4 KitKat runs the Galaxy S5, but that's not the only point. The Galaxy S4 and S3 are still on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean which is currently plagued by major issues on several system functionalities, and users may have to wait until March for Android 4.4 KitKat.

The scary part is the possibility of another major setback that would not only delay the update but also bring a whole new bunch of problems like what happened with Android 4.3. For those who will get the Galaxy S5, there is no need to worry about buggy updates since it is the base software after all and definitely matches the hardware components.

The Galaxy S5 may be as expensive as the Galaxy S4 last year. However, this time, it is definitely carrying major upgrades on the Galaxy S line. Plus, it brags a metal version to go against Apple's iPhone, HTC One or Sony Xperia smartphones.

Yahoo Search Goes Secure, Taking Referrer Data — An Indicator Of Yahoo’s Popularity — With It

By default, searches on Yahoo.com are now done through a secure server. That means more protection for searchers but less data for search marketers about how they are receiving traffic. Most visits from Yahoo done via search will appear as if someone came to a site directly. As a result, Yahoo’s apparent popularity as a traffic driving source will appear to plunge. Yahoo also has left a loophole to keep sending search data to advertisers.

Yahoo Makes Secure Search The Default is our story on Marketing Land with more details about the shift. In summary, it’s still rolling out and by March 31 of this year, all Yahoo search properties worldwide should be using secure search.

This article here on Search Engine Land will focus on the loss of referrer data and what that means for search marketers.

Google & Not Provided

Search marketers are long-used to the idea that they no longer get so much search term data because of Google’s move to secure search in October 2011 for signed-in users:

• Google To Begin Encrypting Searches & Outbound Clicks By Default With SSL Search

That ushered in the era of “Dark Google” where search terms were withheld:

• Dark Google: One Year Since Search Terms Went “Not Provided”

Then last September, Google confirmed that it was moving all searches to secure by default, not just those who were signed-in to Google:

• Post-PRISM, Google Confirms Quietly Moving To Make All Searches Secure, Except For Ad Clicks

All of this has meant that the vast majority of searches done on Google, and which lead to a site, have the search terms removed or shown as “not provided” to those who make use of Google Analytics. Search marketers know a search happened on Google, but they don’t know what the exact term was.

Yahoo & No Referrers

So is Yahoo’s change going to cause a spike in “not provided.” No. That’s because Yahoo’s not sharing anything at all. In most cases, a search on Yahoo that leads to a publisher will reveal nothing — you won’t know the terms, nor will you even know the person came from Yahoo. It will seem as if they came directly to your site.

A similar thing happened with those making use of mobile Safari when searching on Google in 2012:

• Mystery Solved: Why Mobile Safari Searchers Appear To Come “Direct” To Sites Rather Than Via Google
• Mystery Solved: Why Mobile Safari Searchers Appear To Come “Direct” To Sites Rather Than Via Google

Data From Google But Not Yahoo?

How is it that Google secure search still lets you know someone came from Google but Yahoo secure search doesn’t? That’s because Google carefully constructed its secure search to actually make it less secure, to allow for general referrer information to pass (so you know an unnamed search happened on Google) and for actual search terms to pass for Google’s advertisers.

The stories below explain more about this in detail:

• Google Puts A Price On Privacy
• The Questions Google Refuses To Answer About Search Privacy
• How Google could have made the Web secure and failed — again

Potentially, Yahoo could make a similar change. But for the moment, the company says it has no comment about the issue, as the rollout isn’t complete.

As a result, Yahoo will likely see its popularity plunge in the stats used by publishers. It will be sending search traffic but not be credited for this. Of course, Yahoo’s real popularity has already plunged so much that many publishers probably don’t even pay much attention to the amount of search traffic it sends. But what little it does send is now going to appear a lot worse.

By the way, when it comes to searches that lead to secure servers, Yahoo appears to be following standard protocol and passing along full-referrers. However, as most sites are not secure sites, most publishers won’t receive this information.

Postscript: Yahoo tells us that in the case of ad clicks, as with Google, referrer data and search terms will continue to be passed along to advertisers over the web and in the clear.

What’s Up With Bing

Bing launched secure search this month, also, but it’s not on by default, as with Google and Yahoo. That means it will have very little impact on data being withheld. But if it goes on by default, as currently configured, it would act just like Yahoo and pass no data at all. Our story below has more:

• Bing Begins Supporting Separately SSL Search Site; No Referrers Pass

The Rundown

So how’s the landscape look on who passes what and when? Like this:

• Yahoo: secure search is the default, no referrers passed, except for advertisers
• Google: secure search is the default, Google referrer passed but search terms stripped, except for advertisers
• Bing: secure search is optional, no referrers passed

Google’s Matt Cutts: We Don’t Use Twitter Or Facebook Social Signals To Rank Pages

Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, released a video today answering the question, “are Facebook and Twitter signals part of the ranking algorithm?” The short answer was no.

Matt said that Google does not give any special treatment to Facebook or Twitter pages. They are in fact, currently, treated like any other page, according to Matt Cutts.

Matt then answered if Google does special crawling or indexing for these sites, such as indexing the number of likes or tweets a specific page has. Matt said Google does not do that right now. Why?

They have at one point and they were blocked. I believe Matt was referring to Google’s real time search deal expiring with Twitter. Matt explained that they put a lot of engineering time into it and then they were blocked and that work and effort was no longer useful. So for Google to put more engineering time into this and then be blocked again, it just doesn’t pay.

Another reason, Google is worried about crawling identity information at one point and then that information changes but Google doesn’t see the update until much later. Having outdated information can be harmful to some people.

However, Matt does add that he does see Google crawling, indexing and understanding more about identities on the web in the long term. He used our Danny Sullivan as an example, when Danny writes a story here, the site is authoritative, so it ranks well. But if Danny posts a comment on a forum or on Twitter, it would be useful for Google to know that an authority posted on a specific site and thus it should have more ranking weight in Google.

While Google doesn’t do this now, we know they are indeed working on a solution for this.

Here is the video:

Google Adds A Knowledge Graph Popup To Search Results, But Is It Good For Site Owners?

Google has announced the formal rollout of a test that some searchers have been seeing for a few days now — a test that associates a Knowledge Graph popup with certain web pages in desktop search results.

The popup adds more information about certain search results, which sounds like it should be good for searchers. But, as I’ll show below, the implementation may not be great for site owners.

“You’ll see this extra information when a site is widely recognized as notable online, when there is enough information to show or when the content may be handy for you,” wrote Google’s Bart Niechwiej in today’s blog post.

Since it’s Knowledge Graph data, the popups rely heavily on Wikipedia. In my searching, I didn’t see a single example that didn’t have data from Wikipedia.

The data provides background on the website listed in the search result, and it appears in a small popup window that’s accessible from a clickable link on the second line of the result. Here’s a sample that I noticed on a recent search: 

In that example, each boxed area — “Wikipedia,” “Toronto Sun” and “Canoe.ca” is clickable and shows the Knowledge Graph popup.

Good News Or Bad News For Site Owners?

For site owners, this could be seen as a welcome addition because it adds extra information about the website and may encourage users to click the search result. There’s maybe also an element of accomplishment — i.e., “we’re important enough to get this special search result feature.”

On the other hand, as the screenshot above shows, the popup adds up to three extra links to the search result that don’t go to your website:

• The avatar/logo links to the site’s Google+ page
• The “Wikipedia” credit at the end of the text links to the Wikipedia page about the website
• The “Owned by” text links to a Google search (in this case, for “Québecor Média”)

If this becomes a popular feature with searchers, it could lead some to click away from the actual web page that Google included in its search results.

In any case, Google says it expects to show more information about more websites as it expands the Knowledge Graph.