Sphinn
What's Sphinn?  |  Join us!  |  Login  | Help | Tools

  • Hot Topics
  • What's New
  • Greatest Hits
  • Comments
  • Submit
  • Calendar
  • Network
  • Feeds
  • Search Engine Land
  • All Categories
  • Google
  • Yahoo
  • Microsoft
  • Search Marketing
  • Social Media
  • Online Marketing
  • Searching
  • Other
  •      :: Sphinn Live ::

Sphinn Home » Google Other
  • 39
  • Sphinn It!
Google's Indexing Site Searches
Avatar Went Hot: March 28, 2008 - 1:33 pm
Posted By: Gab 45 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://seoroi.com) my network
Category: Google Other
Update: Matt and Mike VanDeMar have shown me Mike's blog, which apparently had this problem withOUT using GA - so it could be some other issue. However, Google is still indexing site searches. So it appears that Google Analytics is exonerated, (I looked at other sites with the issue and some had GA, while others didn't).

There's more research to be done though to figure out what's up. Some of the sites in question had Google Site Search, so there may be a link there, but then again, others don't use it.

My apologies for jumping to conclusions about GA.

Thought your data was safe? Guess again. I discovered that people using Google analytics to track site searches were having their data leaked into the index!
12 Comments     

  • Comments
  • Who Sphunn This (39)
  • Who Desphunn This (2)

Comments

from MattCutts 44 days ago #
Votes: 0 | Vote:
+ -

I debunked this on the original post: http://seoroi.com/case-studies/google-analytics-is-leaking-our-data-into-googles-index-2/#comment-293

from Gab 44 days ago #
Votes: 0 | Vote:
+ -

Just approved your comment Matt. Mind sharing the details at SEO ROI so we can get to the bottom of this? If I did indeed make a mistake, I'll be happy to apologize for it [and any feelings I may have hurt], and change the post title here and at SEO ROI.

That said, I still don't see why there's site search results in the index?

from Gab 44 days ago #
Votes: 0 | Vote:
+ -

Oh, and note: I don't see any of these results on Mike V's site, and he hasn't got anything blocked in Robots.txt.

[FYI for people reading this: Matt confirmed Mike's comment about contacting him with this issue, and about Mike not having GA tracking on his site. But as per my note above, in this same comment, I don't see any site-search results when i query google for site:smackdown. So there may be a debunking, but it hasn't quite happened yet. If/when it happens, like I said, I'll gladly acknowledge my mistake and publish a correction.]

from MattCutts 44 days ago #
Votes: 0 | Vote:
+ -

Hey Gab, I've emailed a few people here and gotten a definitive answer that Google Analytics has nothing to do with those urls. I'm waiting to hear back from a few other people with more info, but it might take a day or so (some people are asleep and at least one person I'd like to hear from is out on vacation until Monday). But I will try to get an answer for you either here or on email..

from JohnWeb 44 days ago #
Votes: 0 | Vote:
+ -

I saw the same type of URLs indexed before, I didn't go the conspiracy route, don't have analytics installed so that wasn't it.

Disallow: /?s=

Seemed to fix everything in no time.


from sza 44 days ago #
Votes: 0 | Vote:
+ -

I see a different Sphinn number for this article on your site and here. Yours is consistently 1 more. (Sorry, now I see it has to do with desphinn.)

from nsmseo 44 days ago #
Votes: 0 | Vote:
+ -

Perhaps you should try changing the Title of the Sphinn Gabs until the proper reason is unearthed.

from patrickaltoft 44 days ago #
Votes: 0 | Vote:
+ -

Is it not just Wordpress pinging google?

from DazzlinDonna 44 days ago #
Votes: 0 | Vote:
+ -

Why would wordpress ping google on a search?

from patrickaltoft 44 days ago #
Votes: 0 | Vote:
+ -

Not sure but you never know.....

from Gab 44 days ago #
Votes: 0 | Vote:
+ -

I've updated the title to more accurately reflect what's going on, and apologize for the error. Also, kudos to Mike VanDeMar for clarifying stuff, and to Matt Cutts for checking out what's going on at the 'plex. On that note keep an eye on Mike's blog - my understanding is that he may release some code to hide your site searches without blocking them in robots.txt. I'm no coder, but it seems pretty innovative and superior to a straight-out robots block.

Stay tuned!

from iBrian 43 days ago #
Votes: 0 | Vote:
+ -

Gab, your original point is worthy - while the site in question isn't running GA, certainly I'm seeing it elsewhere.


Log in to comment or register here.

Who Sphunn This Topic?

  1. Avatar Gab
  2. Avatar martinbowling
  3. Avatar DazzlinDonna
  4. Avatar BrianChappell
  5. Avatar SlightlyShadySEO
  6. Avatar ANOnym
  7. Avatar tonyadam
  8. Avatar gunjanpandya
  9. Avatar sza
  10. Avatar dao
  11. Avatar nsmseo
  12. Avatar Wiep
  13. Avatar nolimitdomains
  14. Avatar rishilakhani
  15. Avatar patrickaltoft
  16. Avatar toddmintz
  17. Avatar Raquel
  18. Avatar palmerseo
  19. Avatar HafizD
  20. Avatar yeepage
  21. Avatar sammy
  22. Avatar vangogh
  23. Avatar bhartzer
  24. Avatar skywatcher
  25. Avatar planetc1
  26. Avatar neyne
  27. Avatar UtahSEOpro
  28. Avatar mbeharry
  29. Avatar digits12
  30. Avatar anglemona
  31. Avatar MarkBarrera
  32. Avatar dailymoolah
  33. Avatar SexySEO
  34. Avatar jameskm03
  35. Avatar robwatts
  36. Avatar mpind
  37. Avatar baiduyou
  38. Avatar incrediblehelp
  39. Avatar scabal70

Who Desphunn This Topic what is desphinn?

Avatar MattCutts 03/27/2008 09:43pm

A commenter (Michael V) has seen similar urls appear and doesn't use Google Analytics on his site at all.

Avatar HamletBatista 03/28/2008 09:45am

There seems to be a mistake as Matt Cutts has debunked it

Related Links

There are no related links for this story.

Top 10 Most Sphunn
In What's New

  1. Tips For Dealing With Information O... (21)
  2. Confessions and Reflections of a Fo... (17)
  3. Live Twittering A Conference? Try L... (17)
  4. Need to hire SEM help? Where to fin... (14)
  5. Five Tools Everyone Working Online ... (14)
  6. Comcast + Twitter = Perfect Feedbac... (14)
  7. Sphinn is a Dysfunctional Social Ne... (14)
  8. SEO for Blogs: If You Build It, Wil... (11)
  9. Answer for $100 What You hate and l... (10)
  10. Social Media Influence: The YouTube... (10)

Latest Comments

  • Great work Jill as always. I have to give you credit on convincing people a…
  • Good post, but I think the comments relating to the submitter are a little …
  • Thanks for the heads up!:)
  • LOL talk about lazy SEO!…
  • Excellent post and something to save for the next time I deal with a design…
  • I sometimes take issue with the way Seth Godin comes across but I agreed ab…
  • I gotta say, this is a nice post from Seth.I love his posts tha…
  • Yeah I used the sphinn button right on marty's site so I dunno what went wr…
  • - read more -
Search Marketing Expo

Save the date for:
• SMX Madrid (in Spanish, May 20-21)
• SMX Advanced - Seattle, WA (June 3-4) Register today! Early bird rate expires May 9!
• SMX Local & Mobile - San Francisco, CA (July 24-25) (July 24-25) Pre-agenda rate expires May 2. Get the lowest rate by registering now.
• SMX East - NYC - (Oct. 6-8)
• SMX London - November 4 & 5, 2008

©2008 Third Door Media, Inc. Privacy Policy & Terms. All rights reserved.

Contact Us  |  Sphinn Staff     powered by Pligg