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Google says it has begun involve users to turn on JavaScript , the wide used programing language to make web pages interactive , for practice Google Search .

In an e-mail to TechCrunch , a company spokesperson claimed that the change is intend to “ better protect ” Google Search against malicious activity , such as bot and junk e-mail , and to improve the overall Google Search experience for exploiter . The spokesperson noted that , without JavaScript , many Google Search features wo n’t work the right way and that the quality of hunting results be given to be degraded .

“ Enabling JavaScript allows us to better protect our armed service and drug user from bots and acquire grade of abuse and spam , ” the spokesperson told TechCrunch , “ and to provide the most relevant and up - to - escort information . ”

Many major websites swear on JavaScript . Accordingto a 2020 GitHub survey , 95 % of site around the web employ the language in some form . But as substance abuser on societal mediapoint out , Google ’s decision to require it could sum friction for those who rely on approachability puppet , which canstruggle with certain JavaScript implementations .

JavaScript is also prostrate tosecurity exposure . In its 2024 annual security survey , tech caller Datadog find that around 70 % of JavaScript services are vulnerable to one or more “ critical ” or “ high - severity ” vulnerabilities   introduced by a third - company computer software library .

The Google spokesperson tell TechCrunch that , on average , “ few than .1 % ” of searches on Google are done by people who disable JavaScript . That ’s no modest number at Google scale . Google processes around 8.5 billion hunting per day , so one can assume that millions of people performing searches through Google are n’t using JavaScript .

One of Google ’s motivating here may be inhibiting third - party tools that give perceptivity into Google Search trends and traffic . Accordingto a Wiley Post on Search Engine Roundtable on Friday , a number of “ rank - checking ” tools — tools that indicate how websites are performing in hunt engine — began experiencing issues with Google Search around the prison term Google ’s JavaScript requirement came into force .

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The Google spokesperson decline to comment on Search Engine Roundtable ’s reporting .