Google Moves to Encrypt Search Queries, Results

In an effort to allow for more secure searching, Google said Tuesday that it will encrypt the search queries and results of those signed into their Google Accounts.

In the coming weeks, users who sign in will start being redirected to https://google.com. That extra "s" on HTTPS keeps data encrypted as it travels between your Web browser and servers and has traditionally been used for things like banks and credit card company Web sites.

"This is especially important when you're using an unsecured Internet connection, such as a Wi-Fi hotspot in an Internet cafe," Evelyn Kao, a Google product manager, wrote in a blog post.

If you don't have a Google Account or don't want to sign in, you can also navigate directly to https://www.google.com for more secure surfing.

Sites that deal with sensitive personal information have typically used HTTPS during the sign-in process to protect password information and then reverted back to HTTP afterwards because full encryption can sometimes slow down your experience on that site. But as more and more people sign on to services like Twitter, Facebook, or Google on public or insecure networks, it makes it easy for cyber criminals to hack in and gain access to personal account information.

Last year, Google announced that it would encrypt Gmail at all times, not just during sign-on, and make the process an opt-out feature rather than opt-in. Facebook introduced a similar option in January and Twitter did the same in March.

How might the move to HTTPS affect sites receiving clicks from Google? If you visit a site via HTTPS, those sites will still know that you came from Google and will receive an aggregated list of the top 1,000 search queries that drove traffic to their site via Google Webmaster Tools.

"This information helps webmasters keep more accurate statistics about their user traffic. They won't receive information about each individual query, however," Kao wrote. "If you choose to click on an ad appearing on our search results page, your browser will continue to send the relevant query over the network to enable advertisers to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns and to improve the ads and offers they present to you."

More details are available on Google's Webmaster Central blog.

In July, Google started rolling out warnings to search users who might have been infected with malware. That came several months after Google announced plans to incorporate warnings about malicious downloads into its Chrome browser.

Amidst a Federal Trade Commission investigation into Google's business practices, executive chairman Eric Schmidt appeared on Capitol Hill recently to defend the company's search practices. He denied that his company gives its own products search preference over that of its competitors, arguing that it faces major competition from rivals like Microsoft, Yelp, and others.