Could Google’s new SSL encryption be the death of analytics?

Webmasters around the world are still trying to get their heads around the announcement that Google is adding SSL encryption to its primary search engine. For the moment the new encrypted search engine is at https://www.google.com (Notice the extra “s”).

What does this mean? To put it as simply as possible it means that webmasters will not be able to track where you came from, what search term you used or even how you got to their site. To put it in even simpler terms, your analytics software running in the background will be as useful as “an asthmatic ant with a heavy bag of shopping”

At the moment this new encrypted search is still an optional beta, but Google have announced that they hope to expand the service.

I still have mixed feelings about this idea but one thing is for sure, Google are trying to once again prevent any 3rd party from seeing their data. Good or bad? Watch this space for updates on the new SSL search.