In October 2011, Google introduced a major change and altered the way that secure search works for signed in users. This meant that Google would start giving ‘’(not provided data)’’. Despite initial claims from Google that only 10 percent would be affected by this, many webmasters experienced a bigger impact and a higher percentage. On September 23rd, SEO as we knew it changed, Google made all searches secure. Many sites are now experiencing up to 95% of their keyword results disappearing. SEO professionals now struggle to identify keyword success and it has made it difficult to monitor whether a campaign is successful or not. But fear not, there are other methods that can help you to monitor the success rate of your campaign and your keywords.

Focus on where traffic is going, not where it’s coming from

Measuring where traffic is going is an effective way to determine the success of an online campaign. By monitoring where the traffic is going, i.e. landing pages, it gives an indication of what visitors have searched for to get to your site. A great way to monitor these can be done by applying filters for all the ‘’not provided’’ data, so that it delivers the landing page for each of those ‘’not provided’’ referrals. Even though you can’t see the keywords, you’ll be able to see where visitors are going, which will give you an idea of what was being searched.

Track internal site search

Even though Google has taken away most of the organic keyword data, they have provided us with an easy way to track internal site searches. Internal site searches can tell you exactly what people are looking for when visiting your site. The information you can get includes if a visitor had to refine the site search, if they completed any goals or if they left your site. The internal site search can therefore give you a strong idea of what the majority of people want from your site and give an indication of what keywords could be successful. Crazy Egg has done an interesting study in the effect of site searches and its effects.

Use Google Adwords

Exploring PPC is still as useful as before – if not more. Using PPC can especially be beneficial if you’re trying to find the value of high traffic keyword searches or keywords that are converting.
If you aren’t sure of how to use Google Keywords Tool here is a quick a practical guide.
However, it is important to remember that Adwords doesn’t provide any referral data from organic search keyword. Also, many people, including Search Engine Watch, have expressed that there is a speculation that the full free data for keyword referral could change in the future and that a charge for data might be introduced.

And the Future?

Russ Henneberry from Crazy Egg puts it nicely when he compares Google to bartenders: ‘’Everyone loves them until last call’’. He explains that Google has been getting us drunk on data for more than ten years on ‘free drinks’ and now it’s time to give out the bill, which means the encrypted search is here to stay.
The role of SEO will keep changing, and SEO professionals will have to adapt and adjust for the missing data in order to win this game.