Google’s announced that ALL searches are now encrypted and search parameters will not be shared through any kind of a keyword tool. The word to note is “ALL” because “SOME” searches have been encrypted for quite some time… about two years.
Before this week’s big announcement Google was already doing “optional” encryption – forcing encryption in Safari, Firefox, and Chrome (Chrome is used by more than 50% of web users).
I have to draw the conclusion that the data in the old Keyword Tool has been skewed for a long time. If you were relying on the Keyword Tool to form your keywords and key phrases, then you were probably missing more than half of all search data!
Sounds to me like the Keyword Tool had become worthless and deserved to be sent into retirement.
If you’ve wondered why the words and phrases extracted from the old Keyword Tool we’re not driving visitors to your website or blog, you’ve got your answer.
