How to Unlock "Not Provided" Keywords in Google Analytics
With more than 70% of searches occurring on Google's search engine, tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics have become indispensable.
Google has worked to improve its dashboards and reporting capabilities, which includes encrypting data to protect personal information collected by Google. However, this does not mean they aren’t collecting that data, they are just limiting what they share with website owners. Big data is big business for large internet companies, and Google has a lot of data.
One important data point that is collected by Google is the keywords (queries) used by visitors to find a website. These keywords can help website owners better understand the users’ intent and therefore create content to better suit the users’ needs. These keywords can also be used to better understand how Google interprets a webpage and to dictate strategy for SEO campaigns.
In this article, I'm going to explain why these keywords are important and how to get them using a free Google Sheets plugin called “Search Analytics for Sheets”.
What Does "Not Provided" Mean?
In 2011 Google moved to encrypt its search engine by employing SSL encryption. Google Analytics could still collect traffic statistics but stopped sharing information about each individual query in the organic search report.
Before this change, a website owner could easily see what organic keywords were driving traffic to an individual page in Google Analytics. This information helped site owners understand what keywords were the most valuable and helped them optimize accordingly.
Now typically over 90% of keywords are listed as “not provided” in Google Analytics.
To some, it felt as though Google was trying to kill SEO. What Google was really doing was working to protect users' personalized searches.
Are you already familiar with "not provided" keywords and just need the quick-start guide for unlocking them? Click below to download now!
Is The Keyword Information Really "Not Provided"
Most of this information can still be found. The problem is that most of the solutions are either complicated or give you incomplete information.
They require writing scripts for Google Search Console’s API to extract the information or connecting Google Search Console to Google Analytics. The second is pretty easy, but the information you can extract is incomplete. However, there is an easier way to extract this information.
Over the last couple of years, I have been working on ways to better help clients understand the value of SEO. When it comes to highly competitive keywords, it takes time and flexibility to be able to shift gears when necessary.
Setting expectations isn't always enough. If you need to shift gears in the middle of a campaign you need to be able to demonstrate to your client why. Without their buy-in, there is a good possibility that the relationship is going to be short-lived. Being able to retrieve the ‘not provided’ keyword data will help you make a compelling case to pivot.
How to Unlock “Not Provided” Using Google Sheets
Install “Search Analytics for Sheets” Add-on
1. Create a new spreadsheet.
2. In the upper navigation bar click on “Add-ons” then “Get add-ons. This will take you to the G Suite Marketplace.
3. Next, in the search bar, enter “search analytics for sheets”. Click on the add-on and “Install”.
