"Dark Google"
In 2011, Google made a change to SSL search by encrypting searches that are performed by users making use of Google.com on a safe connection. Google explained that was a measure to guard personalized search results it delivers. But it affected publishers: sites that users go to by clicking on a search result on Google page would no longer receive "referrer" data revealing the query terms that those visitors searched for to reach their site. The only exception was in the case of ads. Publishers have become familiar with 'Not Provided' - all traffic with taken out search terms typically appears with the Google Analytics keyword "not provided." Industry watchers and SEO experts dubbed these developments "Dark Google" and wondered it if was the end of Google Analytics.
Apple's iOS 6 change Impacts Search on Safari Mobile
Then last September, Apple created an iOS 6 change that impacted Google search from within Safari. And Google was not prepared for this. Users searching on Google using Safari in iOS 6 would appear to publishers as 'direct' traffic instead of 'search' traffic. Now, search engine marketing expert Danny Sullivan has found the reason why mobile Safari visitors seem like direct targeted traffic instead of targeted traffic by means of Google search.
Last March, Google made in the meta referrer tag so that information was passed to its browsers via the meta referrer instead of by means of its Web server. So the page has referrer data embedded in it. Mobile Safari does not support the 'meta referrer' tag and that’s why it makes website visitors look more like 'direct' rather than 'search' traffic. Many other browsers seem to have the "strips all referrers" problem too. However, Desktop Safari is not impacted as it holds the meta referrer.
The final results, says Sullivan, is that many publishers may see a fall in traffic which could be because the traffic is not being attributed correctly and not because search traffic has actually dropped. BuzzFeed had reported that a large number of top publishers like Rolling Stone and The Huffington Post noticed a dip in their Google traffic. Even Google's traffic seems to have dipped lower than Facebook, and BuzzFeed says Google had only itself to blame!
The Result
Sullivan offers two options:
- Mobile Safari can support the actual meta referrer
- Google may carry on making use of web server based reporting to pass information to browsers rather than meta referrer tag based reporting. However, this could result in all referrers being removed if a user visits an insecure site outside Google’s protected research atmosphere.
It seems that the better option is for Mobile Safari to hold the meta referrer. If not, professional SEO companies may find that Google Analytics or other analytics programs do not report search engine optimization trends accurately.