Analytics
This evening I was doing some SEO research, digging through some web server log files and came across a bunch of weird HTTP referrer fields like this one:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CF4QFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wordstream.com%2Fblog%2Fws%2F2011%2F07%2F18%2Fmost-expensive-google-adwords-keywords&ei=WjhFT_yFGqW0iQKJ_u3aDg&usg=AFQjCNH6jAtufiEV9QQ4URJCPcqKj60iuA&sig2=R881GkyXe-xIhCnCm6pxaQ
I couldn't figure out what the q=&esrc=s string was because:
- The q= parameter was empty
- I had never seen this esrc=s parameter.
- There were literally thousands of HTTP referrer strings from Google containing the string: q=&esrc=s parameter set.
I did some digging and figured out that "esrc=s" has to do with the Keyword "Not Provided" issue in Google Analytics.
What is Keyword = Not Provided in Google Analytics?
Last year Google announced that they would start hiding the user search queries from the HTTP referrer field. Web analytics programs such as Google Analytics, which used to be able to display a user's search query, would no longer be able to do so. Instead, Google Analytics would show as being a keyword not provided, as shown here:
Initially, the keyword = (not provided) issue affected as little as 2% of our organic searches, but as of February 2012, approximately 30% of our organic search traffic is being obfuscated by Google. You can see the steady rise of keyword not provided searches to the WordStream.com website in this figure:
It appears that at this rate, the majority of organic searches will be become keyword not provided by the middle of the year!
What is the q=(empty) and esrc=e Parameter?
It appears that whenever Google encrypts a user's search in the HTTP referrer field, they change the q= parameter (which used to contain information about the user’s actual search query) to be empty, then add some other parameter esrc=e.
Google Analytics Keyword Not Provided
I think Google's decision to hide user searches from Website owners is a bit frustrating because:
- Webmasters loose visibility into how people found their site
- It makes SEO increasingly difficult to measure
Thankfully, this issue only affects organic search query data - You can still access all user search query data from paid search, including Google AdWords!
Still, I think someone ought to start a keyword not provided petition!
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Comments
Saturday February 25, 2012
Geoff (not verified) Said:
Monday February 27, 2012
Larry Kim Said:
You're right. q=empty, esrc=s. sorry about that. i've edited the post to reflect that correction. Thanks!
Sunday February 26, 2012
Anonymous (not verified) Said:
I'm now at over 44% not provided and climbing.. shocking that all paid data is there. Very frustrating not knowing how almost half of your users got to your site..
Monday February 27, 2012
Jim Bath (not verified) Said:
I haven't come across this much myself yet, but you do have me a little worried now! Useful to have found this blog - I've never myself know how to decipher referrer fields!
Monday February 27, 2012
Matthew Diehl (not verified) Said:
If you are interested in a keyword not provided petition, there is one at http://www.keywordtransparency.com.
Has more tweets than petition signers, probably because of the lack of ownership transparency. Nonetheless there is an attempt being made but having somewhat of a lackluster response.
Monday February 27, 2012
Elisa Gabbert Said:
Thanks Matthew!
Monday February 27, 2012
Amber (not verified) Said:
It's a great post with very important information! I really never faced it before so didn't have the idea. Anyway thanks for sharing!
Monday February 27, 2012
Allen (not verified) Said:
This is degrading our keyword research. We're seeing more and more people coming in with "Encrypted" search queries...
Sunday March 04, 2012
nwwaterboy (not verified) Said:
Call me a cynic but this move to hide keyword information may be more about devaluing content optimization in response to organic search and increasing the reliance on paid search than privacy.
Thursday March 08, 2012
Carlos (not verified) Said:
How funny... I am watching three sites with piwik, and although two of them present the "keyword not provided", the site that has an Adwords account associated does not have this problem.
Does it mean that I need to subscribe an Adword service for the other two sites in order to get Google send me the query words?
I will do the test and see what happens...
Monday April 16, 2012
Ian Smith (not verified) Said:
This is mind-blowing.
Is there a more definitive assessment anywhere as to what Google is playing at?
Monday April 16, 2012
Ian Smith (not verified) Said:
From Google Analytics Forum:
Unfortunately, Google made a change in November 2011 that hid keyword data from visitors who were logged in at the time, citing privacy issues.
Tuesday May 01, 2012
Kate (not verified) Said:
I am getting 40% as 'not provided' keywords in my "keyword conversions" custom reporting section. Is there any other free analytic software where i can track proper keyword conversions.
Friday May 18, 2012
Jo (not verified) Said:
Correct, the % of keyword not provided is evolving fast. Some website owners still think this is an error caused by not correctly linked accounts within the Google Analytics and AdWords admin settings.
I am in for the petition :)
Friday May 18, 2012
Carla (not verified) Said:
Ill second that keyword not provided petition!!!!!!
Tuesday August 28, 2012
Aderson Oliveira (not verified) Said:
You can still have all keywords available in the Google Webmaster Tools. I know it is not a full solution but they are all there.
Tuesday December 11, 2012
Jennifer Wong (not verified) Said:
Hi Larry,
We recently conducted a study and found that Google’s “Not Provided” Keywords have increased by 171% over the last 12 months.
Here's the full study - http://www.optify.net/press-releases/optify-study-googles-not-provided-r...
Some key takeaways were:
- Google “not provided” now accounts for almost 40 percent of referring traffic data from organic search, an increase of 171 percent since originally introduced a year ago.
- 64 percent of companies analyzed in the study see 30 to 50 percent of their traffic from Google as “not provided”.
- 81 percent of the companies analyzed in the study see over 30 percent of their traffic from Google as “not provided”.
- Recognized referring keywords from organic search declined by 49 percent.
Thought you might be interested in the new data!
Jennifer
@Jenerationy
Wednesday February 20, 2013
Gabriel (not verified) Said:
Yes indeed , never bother me till now , as i want to develop a local script to trace SEO stuff.
Looked into server logs and strange thing is that some queries got keywords and some ( most of it ) does not.
type in google.com/search and will redirect to https://www.google.ro/webhp then make a search like linux-romania and there it is
https://www.google.ro/webhp#hl=en&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=linux-r...
However , is useless as long as most of the users use blank google.com and not /webhp insteead wich is unusual !
Got to do some mode digings and will post ya later as soon as i got some real results.
Cheers !
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