If you haven’t heard, about a week ago Google rolled out a change that affects your data in analytics. I started seeing (not provided) as a natural search keyword. Google has decided to go all SSL on us people who log into Google, and based on how they built it, that hides the keyword data from our analytics. They’re telling us it’s for privacy.
Let’s put it this way – if you have 100 natural search visitors in a month, and they all come to your site by Googling a different keyword, you’d expect to see 100 different keywords in your natural search keyword report. Now, if 50% of those 100 people were logged into Google (ie., logged into Google Plus, or Gmail, or Docs, etc.), you’d see 50 different keywords, and one (not provided) stat showing 50 visits.
Sucks.
When I first heard the news I looked at my Google Analytics. The (not provided) only represented .001 of my natural search visitors. I checked again today, and it’s up to .05 of my visitors. I expect it to grow as it continues to roll out through data centers, and as more people started joining up with the Google products that make them log in. Does this roll into mobile too? I assume so.
I don’t know. Right now it only affects natural search. If a user clicks an AdWords ad from Google.com, the keyword referral data is still passed through whether the user is logged into Google or not. Speculation is that display companies are using natural search data to better target their ads, and since Google is focused on the display game now (trying to own it… which they’re completely on par to do), they’re possibly trying to lock away some of their keyword data. But those same companies can normalize the same keyword data from Yahoo/Bing and still be close.
If (not provided) grows, and a percentage of your keyword referral data is lost, will people start getting “rank crazy” again? Will people start scraping Google for rankings they think they should rank for, versus knowing they should (or shouldn’t) rank for with traditional ranking reports? Google hates when we scrape them and inflate their AdWords numbers.
But what really ticks me off is that I use my keyword data to better my visitors’ experience. With personalized search, social search, and all the cute little things Google does now, I get a lot of interesting queries in my keyword report. Sometimes they’re things I wouldn’t normally rank well for, but because there’s”some relevance” with my site, I get these rare keyword entries. They often inspire me to create content.
If I had a site for plastic sneakers, and I got a one time natural search keyword visit for “how to run with plastic sneakers and not get blisters,” I might assume there’s a pocket of people with that same question. I might write a blog post and answer the question. I might put an article on my main site to attract visitors. In the end, this might provide a great value to searchers, and my own website. But now, if the user who entered this query was logged in, I’d never see it in analytics. Inspiration may never hit. Everyone loses.
Ok, maybe right now it’s not something to freak out about. It’s another “Google wait and see” game, but we’re used to that now, aren’t we? This is just an odd one. Data is so important to content providers.
They say you ground your current experiences in past experiences. I worked in the music industry in the 90′s. Think Napster, Chemical Brothers, and music festivals. For me, the SEO blogosphere is reminiscent of that time.
I’ve been doing SEO for 11 years. There have always been SEO rock stars. Like Hendrix, many of them were pioneers of a new frontier. These SEOs are still around, but for one reason or another, many seem to have gone the way of Foreigner.
But today it’s a much different scene. We have a much bigger industry and heap of digital communication platforms. We’re so much more than just the HighRankings forum now. Still, I continue to see an odd centralization on today’s perceived rock stars. Almost as if there’s a (gasp) mainstream. Its amazingly cool to watch people sign autographs at SMX, even if these people won’t reply to you on Twitter. It’s also funny to see the egos on some of these peeps, the likes of which I haven’t seen since the singer of Everclear (That’s right whatsyourname singer from Everclear… Took me 10 years but I’m finally calling you out! I didn’t forget our fight!).
How can there even be a mainstream? There are hundreds more verticals than styles of music, hundreds more strategies than pop song formulas, and an endless need for experimentation. When’s the last time a rock star in the mainstream did anything new? And I’m not counting a meat-dress as experimental.
Looking back, Sphinn was pretty bad. Some of the most useless SEO content was sphunn up because of the name of the author or curator. But if you bothered to dig deeper, there was some great indie stuff. Google Plus is better because of the difference in interaction, but can be just as bad. In this case the curator (or DJ???) gets more rock god status. Twitter is the wild west, but my choice for really digging deep.
With all that said, there’s still great, “followable” people who have achieved rock star status. Rand Fishkin’s team at SEOmoz is still making hit songs. My friend Wil Reynolds and the SEER team still teach me actionable stuff weekly. They’re still highly relevant for the style of SEO I do. Alternatively, other friends like Eppie Vojt, Ian Howells, John Doherty, and Mike King make me take notes – these guys may not be on the Billboard Top 20, but they’re brilliant players. That’s who’s on my feed reader and my Twitter list. I have a lot more of these indie rock guys than the mainstream players (with notable exceptions).
I’m not saying you need to go alternative. I’m saying you should check to see if you’re looking deeply enough for your taste in SEO. And if you’re not stealing licks (in other words, actively applying what you learn), you may not be following the real artists of today’s SEO scene.
SEO is about searching; it may take a while longer to uncover some new personal rock stars, but so what? Is this your passion? Rawk on!!!
Bill Sebald - Ex-big agency guy, now focused on helping small and medium sized business. I've been practicing SEO since 1998. I started the SEO practice at a major digital agency owned by eBay and helped develop SEO products for one of the largest ecommerce platforms. I'm a proud member of the Philadelphia SEO scene. I'm passionate about search, writing, UX, CRO, and psychology in marketing.
Hang out with me at the SEO Grail