Remember when there was an issue with Mobile Safari passing referrer data via Google search results properly? Well, there will be a temporary issue with Internet Explorer 8 and Google search passing referrer data properly in the near future.
Google is making some sort of change in their search results interface that will cause issues with passing referrer data from IE8 browsers. I am not sure what the issue will be, but Google is aware of it.
It has not happened yet, but it will in the coming weeks. I assume when that does happen, Google will let us know.
Matt Cutts announced it at SMX West along with other things. Here is a tweet from Keri, which sums it up nicely.
Don't be alarmed if it looks like IE8 traffic from Google has dropped for 2-3 weeks while they do backend stuff. #smx
— Keri Morgret (@KeriMorgret) March 13, 2014
It is really nice seeing Google being proactive with the notification, even though they, for some reason, can't be proactive in making sure this issue won't be happening.
But if it does, do not worry, Google is aware.
Forum discussion at Twitter.