Google to Encrypt All Keyword Search Data – Creates Panic Chills

Have you heard that Google is moving to hide and encrypt all keyword search data? If you use Google Analytics to analyze the organic search terms that visitors used to find your website and are just hearing the news, you may be feeling a chill of panic. You are not alone.

Marketers around the world are feeling the daunting shock wave of losing access to the precious keyword data that has been traditionally provided through Google Analytics. The dreaded “not provided” will be growing to 100%. Let’s take a look at why Google is doing this and what this means to website owners.

Why would Google Encrypt All Keyword Search Data?

The “not provided” missing keyword data is actually not a new phenomenon, as it has been progressing since 2011. In 2011, Google implemented a major shift inmaking search more secure. When a user signed into the search engine giant’s account, any search conducted would be redirected to https://www.google.com for the encryption protocol SSL (secure socket layer). Google explained then that search queries would be encrypted and that it was a “move to increase the privacy and security of your web searches”. This move was the beginning of the “not provided” within Google Analytics Organic Search Traffic Keyword reports.

Who Flipped the Switch?

Fast forward to 2013 and Google appeared to be quietly moving to expand keyword encryption. The “not provided” keyword search data started to spike indicating that Google had “flipped on encryption for people who aren’t even signed-in.” Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land reached out to Google in September about the shift and received this response from Google:

“We added SSL encryption for our signed-in search users in 2011, as well as searches from the Chrome omnibox earlier this year. We’re now working to bring this extra protection to more users who are not signed in.”

While Danny Sullivan speculated that this shift might be the result of “US National Security Agency spying thing” or to boost ad sales through Google’s Adwords system, the result is the same. Google’s free keyword data is going away.

When will Keyword Encryption Reach 100%?

The “million dollar question” is when the encryption will hit 100% “not provided” in Google Analytics. According to (Not Provided) Count by ClickConsult, a company that tracks 60 different sites, the not provided data as of October 2, 2013, was up to 80.63%. With this trend, the company is estimating that the not provided stats will hit 100% by November 18, 2013. The real answer is that no one knows for sure.

How Does Google Keyword Encryption Affect Marketers?

SEOs and marketers have used Google’s organic keyword data to measure how effective their organic SEO efforts are and to determine optimal content marketing opportunities. What is a website marketer to do now? Rand Fishkin, CEO and founder of Moz, shared his viewpoint going forward in his article, The First Existential Threat to SEO:

“I believe that in the long run, smart SEOs will find workarounds to backfill for keyword data. I also believe that for every company that shifts their SEO budget elsewhere, another will find that despite the difficulties in perfectly calculating ROI, there is both measurable return and a harder-to-measure increase in serendipitous value. After all, TV advertising has never been perfectly measurable, and it still garners many times the investment total of SEO.”

What Can a Marketer Do Going Forward?

Google’s “not provided” in Google Analytics is not an early Halloween trick. It is here to stay. Going forward, as Rand Fishkin suggested, smart SEOs will find workarounds. Although there are a myriad of articles to help with the missing Google keyword data, here are a few golden nuggets to help you on your way:

• Google Webmaster Tools – If you haven’t set up Google Webmaster Tools yet, now is the time. To locate keyword search data, go to your dashboard and select Search Traffic and then Search Queries. You will see the search keywords that are encrypted in Google Analytics that visitors used to search for and find your website. Note that there are query impressions and clicks as well as average positions. Currently, this is the only accurate way to monitor Google’s encrypted search terms. This data goes back 90 days and you will want to download the data as a CSV file on a regular basis.
• Google Adwords – If you haven’t tried Google Adwords, you may want to try using this PPC (pay per click) system to give some insight on the valuable keywords or phrases that users might use to find a website with services and/or products similar to your site. You will not have access to organic keywords, but the keyword planner suggestion tool will give you ideas.
• Evaluate Other Search Engine Traffic – Even though Bing currently garners only 17.9 percent of the search market share in August 2013 according toComScore, you can still get an idea of traffic driving keywords through Bing’s Webmaster Tools. Bing is currently not encrypting keywords and analyzing the keywords will help you create content going forward.

Losing Google’s keyword data has sent a chill of fright to some website owners. Essentially, we have lost the ability to quickly analyze keyword data through Google Analytics to determine how our content is driving traffic and if our optimization efforts are producing results. It will be a loss, but with every closed door, there are other possibilities and new opportunities.

What are you thoughts about Google’s move to encrypt all keyword search data? Do you have another resource or idea to help fill the void that Google’s “not provided” keyword data has brought? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.