Is Google testing its new referrer string to pave the way for Ajax based results pages?

April 17, 2009
by Dave Freeman

Over the last couple of months Google has been exploring and testing Ajax based search results. If and when Google move to Ajax based results, which appears on the cards, there won’t be huge implications for users with the look and feel staying the same. However, there may initially be a significant impact with website analytics under reporting traffic. As far as we are aware no date has been set for the switch and Google are still in the testing stages with some major issues to iron out – the biggest of all being referrer data. Currently this is only being tested in Google.com.

Why is Google planning to move to an Ajax based results page?

Simple – speed! By using the Ajax model Google will be able to speed up the time taken to serve results to users. This change will make life easier for Google as it will cut down on query processing time.

So what are the implications?

Currently the implications appear minimal. Google has been testing the Ajax based results for a while and early on realised no referral data was being passed. This left website owners and search marketers no way to analyse traffic except through Google Analytics. Unsurprisingly complaints flowed in, and the test was pulled.

Ever since, it seems Google have been working on a solution and it appears (although we are currently unsure as to whether the referrer change is definitely related to the Ajax based implementation) that they are testing it by altering the referrer code of its results. Currently Google use the following refer:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=example&btnG=Google+Search

However, Google’s current testing is a possible attempt to overcome the issues with using an Ajax based search results page, so the referrer for organic links will now use the following format:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=7&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.example.com%2Fpage.htm&ei=0SjdSa-1N5O8M_qW8dQN&rct=j&q=example&usg=AFQjCNHJXSUh7Vw7oubPaO3tZOzz-F-u_w&sig2=X8uCFh6IoPtnwmvGMULQfw

So the implication will become apparent if your current analytics package doesn’t look for the parameter “q=”. If the package does look for this, then there is not issue.

Are there any benefits to this new referrer string?

Possibly. This is still in testing so we cannot confirm whether the above referrer string will be used in the final implementation. However, it currently seems that the parameter “cd=” refers to the search engine ranking for that particular keyword at the time of the click. We are at present testing how this can be integrated into analytics packages alongside visitor numbers.

Although we can’t confirm whether this is the keyword ranking, we have seen from testing that for every site we test the number stored in the “cd=” parameter is related to the keyword ranking. Again it is important to remember that this is still in testing and may not even make it through to full implementation.

What should I be doing?

If you get a lot of visits from Google.com then keep an eye on your visitor numbers, if you notice a drop then your analytics solution may not be handling the change. If this is the case speak with your analytics provider to see if they have a fix.

If the data in your analytics package seems normal then don’t worry, sit back and relax. We’ll keep you updated with the latest changes as and when they happen.

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