Last September, when Google made it clear they'd be encrypting an extended number of search queries, the SEO community has been keen on cracking the Not Provided code and finding ways to analyze performance of their keywords. There were experts who came up with detailed guides on adjusting Google Analytics reporting, those who suggested fetching keywords data from alternative tools, those who argued there were metrics more important for decision-making than keyword data, etc. In this deck, you'll find top 13 expert methods to still get the Not Provided data, from very simple to quite difficult. Which one suits you best? http://webmeup.com/blog/not-provided.html

1. Pro methods to get the “Not Provided” data
Top
14 SEO experts
on Google’s “Not Provided”

2. What is “Not Provided”?
Google restricts the keyword data they send to
websites so that visits coming from secure
Google search pages would appear in Google
Analytics under the label “not provided”, instead
of the actual search term.
Grouping a large number of keywords under the
banner of “Not Provided” denies site owners
fundamental information about how their site is
performing in organic search.

3. How big is the problem?
• The percentage of “not provided” traffic
Google is sending to sites is steadily rising.

4. How big is the problem?
• The percentage of “not provided” traffic
Google is sending to sites is steadily rising.
• As for Feb, 2014, 82.42% of all keywords are
hidden behind the “not provided” data

5. How big is the problem?
• The percentage of “not provided” traffic
Google is sending to sites is steadily rising.
• As for Feb, 2014, 82.42% of all keywords are
hidden behind the “not provided” data
• And very soon it will hit 100%.

6. What Remains? Keyword Data Options
Here are 14 experts methods to still
get the “not provided” data, from very
simple to quite difficult.
You choose which one suits you best.
http://webmeup.com/blog/not-provided.html

7. #1
Dan Barker
@danbarker
E-business
consultant
Focus on landing pages
Go to Google Analytics
• Look for “Not Provided” search terms.
• Where you find them, look to see which page
the visitor landed on.
• Change your keywords report in Google
Analytics to show those two pieces of
information (the fact that Google suppressed
the keyword, and the landing page), rather than
just the utterly anonymous “Not provided”
http://webmeup.com/blog/not-provided.html

8. #2
Focus on landing pages
Go to Google Analytics
Rachael Gerson
@rachaelgerson
SEER Interactive
• Create filter to view Keyword +
Landing page (the easiest)
• Create advanced segments to
include only “Not Provided”
• Create a brand-new profile to
include “Not Provided”
http://webmeup.com/blog/not-provided.html

9. #3
Megan Marrs
@marrsipan
Wordstream
Set up internal search
Set up site search to see the
queries visitors have used in
the search box on your site.
http://webmeup.com/blog/not-provided.html

10. #4
Dissect Google Analytics strings
If you look at the URL from a Google
search in your address bar, you’ll see
that it is not the actual URL of the page.
Rather it is a redirect URL with a string of
parameters and codes attached to the
end. This string provides a wealth of
information about the keyword and
relative link position of the result that
was clicked.
Sean Ellis
@seanellis
Qualaroo
http://webmeup.com/blog/not-provided.html

11. #5
Rely on Approximated Traffic
What we came up with is the
Approximated Traffic feature in
WebMeUp…
Viktar Khamianok
WebMeUp
We take a lot of SEO data, apply complex
calculation – based on research and
statistics – and here it is – the figures you
weren't supposed to see are to be found
under Approximated traffic in WebMeUp.
http://webmeup.com/blog/not-provided.html

12. #6
Make use of SEMRush/Keyword Spy data
Annie Cushing
@AnnieCushing
SEO consultant
Some SEO tools like SEMRush or Keyword Spy
reports can provide insights on keywords that
work.
I love these reports. But you have
to throw it into a pivot table to
get any kind of insight from it.
http://webmeup.com/blog/not-provided.html

13. #7
Look at Bing and Yahoo! stats
Graham Charlton
Rely on keyword data from Yahoo! and Bing as
an alternative to Google Not Provided. But be
careful…
@gcharlton
Econsultancy
This is a possible solution, and
will provide some insight, but
Google's sheer dominance of the
search market means that there
just isn't much of it.
http://webmeup.com/blog/not-provided.html

14. #8
Use Google Webmaster Tools
Here are the challenges Google's
Webmaster Tools solves: Which
search queries does my website
show up for, and what does my
click-through rate look like?
Avinash Kaushik
@avinash
Google
http://webmeup.com/blog/not-provided.html

15. #9
Open a Google AdWords account
Mike Murray
@mikeonlinecoach
Online Marketing
Coach
Google isn’t so concerned with privacy
that it won’t continue to provide
keyword data for paid search
customers...
Now, it’s hardly organic data, but an
AdWords account will provide some
insights and an indication about whether
a keyword phrase has any value.
http://webmeup.com/blog/not-provided.html

16. #10
Identify decision you base on
keyword data
Reid Bandremer
@ReidBandremer
Lunametrics
First, SEOs need to pin down the gaps
in actionable insight they need to fill.
Ask some deep questions.
Break this down into a set of problems,
then prioritize the problems. Then
you’ll be on the path to develop the
right package of solutions.
http://webmeup.com/blog/not-provided.html

17. #11
Realize Not Provided approaching
100% is not fatal
Most execs don’t care which keywords
are driving traffic and converting best.
They’re too busy to care about that..
John Doherty
@dohertyjf
Ex-Head of
Distilled
Most execs care about overall revenue
coming from the organic, or any other,
channel. They also care about their pet
keywords, for better or for worse…
http://webmeup.com/blog/not-provided.html

18. #12
Base your keyword research
on personas
Michael King
@iPullRank
iAcquire
Rather than just putting together
a list of keywords and search
volumes, we run survey to
understand where users are in
their Consumer Decision Journey
with their search.
http://webmeup.com/blog/not-provided.html

19. #13
Rely on search rankings
Analyzing ranking changes across
keywords that have historically driven
traffic will now be a critical tool in
identifying and reacting to negative
traffic changes.
Ray Comstock
@SEOCatfish
BusinessOnline
It will also be important to carefully
track which URLs are ranking for
which keywords in order to correlate
ranking changes to traffic changes.
http://webmeup.com/blog/not-provided.html

20. #14
Consider CRO for pages, not keywords
Rob Ousbey
@RobOusbey
Distilled
Many sites would previously run Conversion Rate
Optimization (CRO) tests for particular keywords or
group of keywords. Now they can only consider
conversion rate of individual pages – and for good.
… As long as you begin by measuring
the CR for people landing on that
particular page and work to improve
that, you’ll be working on the right
thing.
http://webmeup.com/blog/not-provided.html

21. Thank you!
Check out full article:
http://webmeup.com/blog/not-provided.html
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