Back in 2010, Google launched encrypted.google.com, a search page that supported SSL encryption. There were a few other privacy features as well, like limited query info for advertisements, but SSL was the main improvement. In October 2011, the main Google site switched to SSL, so there wasn't much of a need for the encrypted site anymore.

There probably isn't anyone left using it, but encrypted.google.com is finally shutting down. The home page now says, "The core functionality of encrypted.google.com has been incorporated into the Google search homepage. Those visiting this URL after April 30, 2018 will be redirected to https://www.google.com." So long encrypted search, you had a good run.

Thanks: C. Bennett