Google Search Starts Requiring JavaScript To Run, Leaving 'Fewer Than 0.1%' Users Stranded

Google Search requires JavaScript

The web is powered a long list of technologies.

From the databases that can use MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and others, to data communications that use WebSockets, OAuth and others. Then, there are the ways data is transferred, like using HTTPS, TCP/IP, FTP and more. Then, there is the way it encrypts data, like using SSL/TLS and protocols like OpenID and SAML.

There are also those that are needed to handle requests, like Apache, Nginx, and others.

Not to mention that it requires data centers, routers, switches, and servers provide the physical infrastructure for the web.

But for users, they are presented with an interface, as clean as possible, which is essentially powered by technologies like HTML and CSS, which have long been the foundation of proper, running websites.

Whereas as JavaScript, it's only generally necessary for those websites that require dynamic content.

Now that there are more bots than humans, Google starts requiring all Google Search users to enable JavaScript.

What this means, Google is making it a mandatory for users to enable JavaScript, the widely-used programming language for making web pages interactive, to use Google Search.

The main goal behind the move is to make Google Search more secure, and to "better protect" it from malicious activities.

"Enabling JavaScript allows us to better protect our services and users from bots and evolving forms of abuse and spam," a Google spokesperson said, "and to provide the most relevant and up-to-date information."

And because JavaScript can make interface dynamic, the requirement should in turn improve the overall Google Search experience for all users.

The spokesperson noted that, without JavaScript, many Google Search features won’t work properly and that the quality of search results tends to be degraded.

This happens because many of Google Search features rely on JavaScript to work and function, in which it uses it to properly load, display, rank and refine results.

What this means, disabling it can negatively impact how the search engine works.

Not to mention that Google Search extensively uses JavaScript to both profile and track users wherever they go around the web.

For Google, JavaScript is a core component of many tracking technologies it employs for analytics, advertising, and personalized services.

From Google Analytics that many webmasters use on their sites, to Google Ads (and DoubleClick) that become one of their sources of income (as well as Google's), to the way Google uses JavaScript to power its tracking cookies and pixels that follow users across multiple websites in Google’s vast advertising network.

Google also uses JavaScript to collect data on user interactions within Google services (e.g., Search, YouTube, Maps), in order to improve recommendations and refine search results.

Pretty much all websites on the web use JavaScript to provide the best of experience, and that it includes Google.

Google Search view source
Viewing the source of Google Source in HTML shows that the website about a dozen of scripts, a few dozen of compressed JavaScript files, and hundreds of functions. What this means, there are tons of JavaScript involved in its inner working.

But here's the thing, one one hand, Google is effectively requiring all users to enable JavaScript in order to deliver the richest and most feature-packed search engine experience possible, but on the other hand, this also enables Google to track users more effectively, collecting extensive data on their online activities and behaviors.

JavaScript has been one of the things privacy-concerned individuals disable to stop Google and other trackers from collecting their activities.

Browsers like the Tor Browser, Lynx, GNU IceCat, LibreWolf, and Dillo disable JavaScript to prioritize privacy, security, performance, and simplicity.

But Google knows that it won't offend a lot of people who use Google, since according to the Google spokesperson, "on average, fewer than 0.1%" of Google Search searches are conducted by users who have JavaScript disabled.

While that percentage seems small, it translates to millions of searches daily, given Google’s staggering volume of around 8.5 billion searches per day.

Published: 
20/01/2025