One of the most frequent questions I get asked when working with business owners’ web marketing is what people are searching for to find their website. In Mavidea’s monthly reporting we list all of these searches, from the relevant to the
“what the?!” keywords.
But perhaps most perplexing is the keyword listed as [Not Provided], courtesy of Google. In fact, many website owners have seen their percentage of searches that are [Not Provided] increase. Here’s why: Google is using more and more avenues to their encrypted, secure search. Google secure search obscures the keywords that people use to find websites, leaving business owners scratching their heads as to how their customers are finding them.
The following scenarios are some ways that Google might display searches as [Not Provided]:
- If a person is logged into his or her Google account (like Gmail) and then goes to Google.com to search.
- If searchers use Firefox 14 or later – we’re on Firefox 18 now – and searches with Google.
- Searchers that will use Chrome 25, the next version to be released, will have their searches obscured.
If this sounds like bad news, don’t fret: there are other ways for business owners to determine what customers are searching for to get to their site. First, try Google Web Master Tools – a service that you’re part of if you have FirstSearch through Mavidea. It will list out your searches from the last 90 days. Second, look at other search traffic, like referrals through Bing or Yahoo.
If you don’t know where to look, ask the Mavidea FirstSearch team. We will show you how to piece together you’re most searched phrases and give you the statistics to see how you’re improving. We’ll provide the help you need to get around Google’s [Not Provided].
