We had a discussion riddled with confusion and debate about under what conditions search terms are passed from Google searches to the target site. Primarily, there was debate about Google searches executed as Secure Shell or https. This is of interest because Google has made a move to run searches when logged into Google as Secure Shell.
No search terms passed from HTTPS Google search:
I have not been able to find evidence that search terms are passed in the HTTP_REFERER with the url query variable "q" when searching with Google under https. I do see evidence that an HTTP_REFERER is passed but is missing the "q" variable
Search terms passed from HTTP Google search:
I have been able to find evidence that search terms are passed in the HTTP_REFERER with the url query variable "q" when searching with Google under http or not secure shell.
I don't want to produce urls here to protect the innocent but try this:
HTTPS search:
login to Google
search for "phpinfo https"
follow a link that is a phpinfo report
I can not find any cases that show a populated "q" variable in the HTTP_REFERER.
HTTP search:
logout of Google
search for "phpinfo https"
follow a link that is a phpinfo report
I can find cases that show a populated "q" variable in the HTTP_REFERER.
This is counter to what some believed. I would be interested to see if others found results that challenge my findings.