Google announced today that it is extending its SSL offerings to Google search. Google has long provided SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) support for its Gmail and Google Docs products but this is the first time basic search has received SSL support.
Now you can get basic SSL protection for your Google searches by visiting https://www.google.com. At the time of this writing, Google is still redirecting all HTTPS requests to the regular Google homepage, but this should change over the course of the day.
As Google notes in its blog post, SSL support is still in beta — hence the new logo. Also, while Google will be encrypting your connection, it will still maintain the same search data that it always maintains. In other words, don’t think that SSL support means you can keep Google from retaining info about your searches.