Google has made changes to how it handles organic keyword data. It will now provide "(not provided)" for all organic search traffic keywords instead of the actual searched keywords. This means that SEO professionals will no longer have access to keyword-level data from Google organic searches. However, the author argues this change can be seen as an opportunity to focus more on user behavior analytics and other data sources beyond just keywords. While some SEO activities relying heavily on keyword data will be affected, an integrated approach across marketing disciplines and a focus on user experience will still allow for successful digital marketing.

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Google updates
100% (not provided)

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Crafted
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Contents
1.0 Introduction
2.0 100% (not provided)
3.0 Crafted opinion

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1.0
Introduction
Google recently turned 15 years old, and it’s
welcomed in the middle of its teenage years
with two significant developments that will be
of interest to, and affect, all of Crafted’s digital
marketing clients. One shift now obfuscates all
keyword data from natural, or organic, search
traffic (commonly a goal in an SEO campaign).
But why should you, digital marketing
professionals, care about these developments?
From humble beginnings at Stanford University
the search engine has grown from being a niche
service to one of the most recognised brands on
the planet. In order to achieve that growth Google
has been in a continual cycle of developing and
pushing new aspects of search towards users.
This means that while this is a significant new
development, likely to attract column inches
and initiate discussions, they should be viewed
in the wider context of an ever-changing digital
search landscape.
So in this resource document we will give you
the background on the stopping of all organic
keyword data and in what ways it will affect
digital marketing campaigns.
http://www.notprovidedcount.com/

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2.0
100% (not provided)
First announced in October 2011, the
concept of (not provided) keyword data was
initially touted as being a privacy measure.
In the beginning, only signed in users were
affected. They came to perform a search on
Google, and as they were signed into Google
at the time (often through their Gmail email
account) the keywords that they used in their
search would not be passed to the receiving
website. This means that if you were a website
receiving traffic for a particular search term
such as “red widgets” then an amount of that
traffic started be listed as (not provided) within
your site’s analytics from October 2011. Over
time, this percentage grew as other situations,
not just users being logged in, caused the same
(not provided) issue - namely people using the
secure, https, version of Google, although
initially the numbers were low.
As the PRISM allegations showed the NSA
had many back doors into the data of large
tech companies, this wouldn’t be affected
either. As we highlighted before, most
significantly it is “convenient” that all paid
traffic via AdWords still retains full referrer
information, so the privacy issue really is
moot. Others have suggested it could be
leverage for a paid Analytics platform.
However, what does this all mean to
a website owner, and the marketing
behind it?
As we mentioned at the end of 2012, this was
an ever-growing trend as there were several
things which served to increase the amount
of (not provided) traffic, such as browsers
defaulting to https (secure search) and other
privacy initiatives - meaning it was always
going to increase over time.
Unfortunately, at the end of September,
Google finally confirmed that it was moving
every search on every device over to the secure,
https, version which effectively creates 100%
(not provided) traffic from organic results.
Some commentators have suggested this
move could be in relation to the recent NSA
privacy story. However, Google isn’t encrypting
this data, it’s simply choosing to not send it
through to the receiving website.
Some commentators
have suggested this
move could be in
relation to the recent
NSA privacy story.

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2.0
100% (not provided)
There are several main implications of
this move to 100% (not provided) status:
1. Organic keyword analysis loses its data
Previous SEO activity that focussed on
data to the keyword level will become more
difficult. As the (not provided) issue has been
around for so long, we have developed ways in
which we can pull data from multiple sources
and look at things in a different way to infer
keyword traffic and response. However, some
of these processes have been focussed on
reclaiming traffic within the (not provided)
group based on the behaviour of the part we
did receive, and as such having zero organic
keyword data will make these impossible.
However, we have been focussing for a long
time on SEO from the point of view of user
journeys. So by looking at data around metrics
such as landing pages, we’ve been modelling
behaviour in a way that’s independent of
keyword data and will continue to refine
these models.
3. Should we look at rankings instead?
For the past couple of years Google results
have been changing at an ever increasing rate.
From the introduction of rich media such as
images and videos to localisation or Google’s
new “Knowledge Graph” search function, a
standard results page of 10 blue links is an
endangered species.
This means that previous metrics of SEO
success of ranking improvements are both
more important as it’s a remaining data point,
but also much more prone to inconsistent or
inaccurate reporting. Also, ranking checks
are limited to keywords you already know
you want to track, and one of the key things
that 100% (not provided) affects is the
discovery of those hidden gems. Keywords
delivering minimal traffic but with great
engagement and conversion statistics.
2. The integration of paid and organic
marketing teams is even more important
A significant number of our organic search
clients are also running paid search with us.
As keywords from AdWords data is still being
passed the most effective keyword research
will soon be running a limited paid campaign
to collect response rates and search volumes.
While a collaborative working environment
between paid and organic disciplines was
always a plus, it now becomes ever more
essential moving forwards. By taking Search
Query Reports and cross matching this with
landing pages and engagement statistics, you
can start to build a picture of the lost keyword
data. New features such as the new tool
showing combined paid and organic traffic
per keyword is undoubtedly there to make
the case for advertising dollars, but can also
be used by effective marketers to understand
data they’ve lost to (not provided).

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2.0
100% (not provided)
By focussing on a site’s most successful content
that drives high quality traffic, and integrating
sources such as Google Trends data for topics
and keyword groups, marketers can then piece
together what keywords are likely to be driving
traffic to particular pages and include them in
ranking reports.
4. Focus on the user
Google’s oft-repeated mantra does actually
hold even more water in the new era of 100%
(not provided). By removing an SEO’s source
of keyword data, it focusses the mind that
a keyword delivers a user to your site, and
you can still track them.
So a robust grasp of all aspects of user behaviour
is even more important, drawing on UX, CRO
and analytics disciplines will hopefully allow
search marketers to focus away from singular
data points and into a more holistic view of the
digital marketing mix.
5. There’s more to life than Google
In the UK Google has over 95% market share,
so taking data from other search engines such
as Bing and extrapolating up is fraught with
accuracy issues for all but the largest and most
well trafficked websites.
However, the principle is sound, in that
it’ll be even more important to understand
different data sources such as Facebook
Insight demographic data or user analytics
such as ClickTale. This sort of cross-discipline
thinking allows you to see the bigger picture
of your website.
Further reading:
Marketingland.com
Here Comes “100% Not Provided,”
As Google Begins Encrypting All
Non-Paid Searches
Searchengineland.com
Post prism google secure searches
www.crafted.co.uk
Resources

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3.0
Crafted opinion
There have been various opinions and theories
put forward by the SEO community about the
implications of 100% (not provided). Some
have considered it a doomsday scenario that
we’re now devoid of all keyword intelligence.
Others have been flippant and suggested it
was an outdated and outmoded metric.
My view is that it’s simply a change, and one we
aren’t in control of, but also aren’t surprised by
either as it’s been coming for so long. As digital
marketers we are used to operating in one of the
fastest-changing industries there are. Facebook
isn’t even 10 years old, YouTube isn’t even nine,
iPads have only really been around three short
years - but all have dramatically affected what,
and how users consume digital content.
There is no escaping that certain previously
high-ROI SEO activities will be dramatically
affected, and reporting will always have a big
hole where keywords used to be. Simple
questions such as the percentage of organic
traffic delivered by brand keywords will no
longer be just that, simple questions.
However, on the flipside I see this as having
many positives, and taking a top-level view
allows good digital marketing to flourish
and succeed.
The main issue is that metrics will need to
change. For instance, landing page effectiveness
transcends not just SEO and touches on design,
usability and technology, so to have the full 360°
view is even more important. Being able to
deliver the solutions to the issues will become
even more important.
Above all, we aren’t going to change Google’s
position, and if they have done it then what other
search platforms will follow, could Facebook
charge for its Insights data? It’s an exciting time
and I think will bring an opportunity for great
search work to be recognised and rewarded.
Ian Miller
Search Director
Being able to deliver
the solutions to the
issues will become
even more important.

8. Crafted
INFORMATION
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