Image via CrunchBase

Google made an announcement this week that they’ll no longer be passing search query (keyword) data along to a Website when a user is signed-in to their Google account and performs a search on Google. In short – this means that Google is blocking access to organic keywords data. Not just in Google Analytics – but in any Web analytics package.

Explaining the Change

1. Signed-In user does a search on Google
2. Signed-in user clicks on an organic result
3. Website owner sees “Not Provided” in their Web analytics reporting instead of the keyword that brought the user to the site

Get the idea? They’re not reporting on organic keyword searches anymore. However, if a signed-in user clicks on a paid search (PPC) advertisement, then Google will pass the keyword data through. Keep that fact in mind…

If you believe the party line, then according to Google, this move was done in the interest of making their search engine a more secure & safe place for users to search by protecting search query data & personalized results. If you’re a conspiracy theorist, then this is just another way that Google is forcing site owners to use AdWords… which is how Google makes money. In other words – the message might be “if you want to know which keywords are the best for your Website, better pay for them.”

Either way, if you’re a Website owner or Internet marketer, particularly an SEO, this could be a game-changing move re-setting your level of sophistication to the mid-2000′s.

How it Affects Site Owners & SEO’s

As explained above, Google will no longer be passing search query data to Google Analytics if the user is performing a search via SSL. This means that while you will be able to view that a visitor from Google organic search came to your website, you will no longer be able to see what search query that user typed in to find your site. In place of the keyword in Web Analytics reporting, you will now see “Not Provided” instead.

How big of a deal this is to a Website really kind of depends on how much of your search traffic comes from Google organic search, and whether the sub-set of that traffic is significant. A lot of that has to do with your target audience, how technically savvy they are, whether they have a Google account and stay signed-in, etc. In other words – it depends.

Google claims that “…the change will affect only a minority of your traffic.” So, out of curiosity – I took a look at the keyword reporting for our site and a few of our clients. Granted, this change only took place a couple of days ago – but for every single site we work with including our own, “Not Provided” is a top 10 keyword result. In most cases, it was a top 5 result. Doesn’t seem so minor to me.

Example "Not Provided" result from a client's keyword referrals. Since the change, "Not Provided" is showing up as a top 10 result for ALL of our clients.

How pervasive is the problem? As expected, Google organic traffic makes up the bulk of our client’s search traffic falling somewhere between 88% – 93% of search traffic. If a substantial portion of those Google users are signed-in, then you aren’t going to be getting much information from your organic keyword referrals…

This is a typical organic traffic breakdown for our client sites. Guess which search engine makes up the blue slice of the pie? That's right – Google.

Why I Think Google’s Privacy Claim is a Bad Joke

Google Analytics (or any kind of Web analytics package) is fairly good at not really disclosing too much about the user. Sure, we are able to get information such as the proximity of where the user was located, the browser that was used, the search query that was used and other information… but what we’re not able to get is:

• First and last name
• Mother’s maiden name
• Name of family pet growing up
• Favorite food

Basically – when we’re looking at the keywords that drive our client’s businesses and are looking for ways to make their content more relevant and drive a better experience, we aren’t really getting anything “private”.

Further Reading, Takeaways & Thoughts

1. There’s been a substantial backlash to this announcement. I could be wrong, but I’m betting that Google doesn’t budge on this one.
   1. Google’s Announcement: Making search more secure: Accessing search query data in Google Analytics
   2. Dear Google: This is war
   3. Google Invests in Privacy for Profit
   4. Search Engine Land: Google To Begin Encrypting Searches & Outbound Clicks By Default With SSL Search
   5. Avinash Kaushik – THE Web Analytics guru – posted a Google Analytics custom report you could use to keep an eye on Google’s https keyword change trend. Get it here
2. Google Analytics user? Create an annotation in GA and note October 18, 2011 as the day that Google started blocking organic SSL searches. Believe me – if you’re at all accountable for reporting & analyzing on search traffic, you will likely be doing a lot of explaining and will be glad you pegged the date.
3. Are you an SEO? You’ll likely be taking your level of focus to a broader-level perspective than focusing on specific keywords. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing… Create & use advanced segments. Get used to using multi-channel attribution. Get used to relying on AdWords data…. and trying to make sense out of Bing referrals.

I’m sure some more things will come to mind over the next few days and weeks. I can’t WAIT to go to my next search marketing conference and watch every Google speaker take Q&A. It’s gonna get ugly.

I’m looking forward to YOUR comments, thoughts, takeaways and links.

Amplified Gold Posts

• I love checklists. They are an effective way to manage PPC tasks. Seer Interactive shared 5 Things to Watch in New Campaigns this month. I have already used this checklist to monitor performance of new campaigns for clients.
• How do you prioritize your time? Search Engine Land has a great post this month, Time Management Tips. The post is targeted at in-house searh marketing managers but there are great take aways for agency folks too. The main take away is to focus on tasks that have the greatest ROI.
• It seems every playlist I include a post from The Eisenberg’s. What can I say? I’m a fan. Bryan posted a video of a presentation titled, 21 Secrets of Top Converting B2B Websites The video is an hour long but has some CRO nuggets for B2B search marketers.

Amplified Platinum Posts

• I love this post from Annie at Blue Glass, Making Data Sexy. Great Excel tips and full of personality. I’m exited to see future posts in the series. Glad to see Annie “Bringing sexy back” to data.
• What’s your favorite Adwords filter? Search Engine Watch has a great post this month on 5 Filters Everybody Should Use in Adwords. Filters are a powerful way to identify quick wins in your PPC campaigns.
• Another good one from Search Engine Land, 3 Great Questions That Can Improve Your PPC Campaigns. A very simple and effective way to audit your campaigns.

Amplified Diamond Posts

• Warning: Lots of math and nerdy stats talk in this post from 37 Signals, A/B Testing: Determining Sample Size. If you’re testing or considering testing ensure you have all of the elements to make data driven decisions. If you lack the volume to test I’d suggest you not test at all.
• Word Stream’s blog is a must read for PPC managers. Here’s a great post by Tom on their blog, How to Identify Undervalued Adwords Assets Assisted Conversions & Channel Groupings.
• I’ve always been a fan of PPC Hero. They consistently offer valuable content. Check out this PPC Task Checklist for Account Success from PPC Hero this month. I use a similar checklist as a reminder of regular PPC tasks and this one had some great additions to my existing list.

What checklists or reports do you use to save time?

Temps have been dropping and rain has been falling in Portland this week. For me that means Radiohead station on Pandora. Here are a couple songs from my playlist this month. Nevermind the disturbing kids in the first video

This past month was difficult to find blog posts that were NOT about Google +. But don’t fret, I’ve found the best the web has to offer in PPC and listed them below.

The biggest theme that stood out to me from this month’s playlist was testing. Ongoing testing and optimizing is critical to the success of any PPC campaign. So put on your lab coat, read up, and get er’ done.

Amplified Gold Posts

• 5 ways to increase CTR with your PPC ads.
• Brad Geddes provides a quick way to identify ways to increase exposure of you PPC campaigns.

Amplified Platinum Posts

• Choosing a PPC Agency: 10 Questions to Ask A great list of questions you should be asking. I wish I had this list several years ago when I was on the other side of agency PPC management.
• Data is a powerful tool when used properly in PPC. This post shares 5 powerful PPC tips to make sure you use data correctly to improve your campaign performance.
• Remember the days PPC conversions were cheap and competition was non existant? I do. If you are in a semi competitive niche this is usually no longer the case.  Here’s a good post on why “You Can’t Buy More Conversions“.  Bonus is there is a pic of a terrifying baby after the jump. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that face from past managers.

Amplified Diamond Posts

• I LOVE THIS POST! Bryan Eisenberg outlines a simple set of 3 guiding principles to lift conversions and click through rate . Writing PPC ads can be  the most difficult part of a PPC analyst job. Use these three rules and make your life easier.
• Another gem from this month. Wordstream’s blog is a must read for PPC peeps. Check out this post that provides estimates on average PPC bids ranked by industry. This explains how Google can justify continued failed attempts at social networks like Buzz and Wave. Let’s hope Google + doesn’t go that direction. But if it does I’m sure it won’t be Google’s last try.

Chime in the comments with any posts that you thought were required PPC reading in the last few weeks. Or if you are looking for PPC management services give us a shout.

In the spirit of the playlist theme I’ve queued up a YouTube playlist of 3 songs that have got me chair dancing in the last month. There’s some new stuff with a classic at the end. I recently added a Beastie Boys station to Pandora and have been loving it. I’ll plan on queueing up new songs for each playlist post in the future.

Bing is continuing to gobble up market share. Slowly.

According to data compiled by Experian Hitwise and being reported on by Mashable, Bing controlled 30.01% of the U.S. search market share in March 2011. This is an increase of 6% from February’s market share for Bing and 5% from February’s market share for Yahoo (which is a Bing-powered search engine since August 2010).

Google controlled 64.42% of the U.S. search market share in March 2011. This is down from their percentage of 66.69% in February.

A big takeaway from the Mashable article I linked to above:

One of the reasons why Yahoo and Bing may be gaining on Google is that users are apparently achieving more success out of Bing-powered search: 81.14% of Yahoo Search users and 80.32% of Bing.com users clicked on a search result and visited a website. Google, on the other hand, only achieves a 65.91% success rate, according to Experian Hitwise’s numbers.

Pretty interesting, to say the least.

Bing’s rise in the search market share in the U.S. only reiterates the point that, if you’re looking to have a paid search presence on search engines, having a presence on only Google really only gives you 2/3rds of the audience you can potentially have.

Even more data and some graphs with trending can be seen here.

Here are Ben’s thoughts after SearchFest

While there are plenty of recaps and ‘takeaways’ posts for SearchFest 2011 – I thought we’d take a look at a few of the more broad insights we gained and where we’re likely to focus our attention over the next year.

Mobile – Are We There Yet?

Christian actually blogged the “Mobile Marketing Strategies & Tactics” session for the SEMpdx blog

“This is the year of mobile!” – I’ve heard this proclamation every year since I’ve been in the search game, but now there’s real reason to feel like mobile’s time is now. When you look at mobile adoption rates, and the sheer number of smartphones on the market, and then lump in iPads & other tablets as mobile devices – it’s obvious that brands must consider mobile as part of their mix. Consider some stats from this session – the numbers are big and getting bigger:

• More smartphones were sold than PCs in Q4 2010
• In 2015 there will be more mobile Web users than desktop Web users
• 35% of Yelp’s queries are coming from mobile
• 200 million people use Facebook on their mobile device (25% of overall Facebook activity?)
• 1 in 7 search queries on Google are coming from a mobile device

But perhaps the most interesting of all – most websites/brands are not ready for mobile. They don’t have a mobile version of their site, they don’t have an app, they don’t have a strategy… Mobile could be your brand’s competitive advantage this year!

I know that mobile strategy isn’t at the forefront of most of our client’s minds… we’ll probably look to change that this year. Hint: we’ll probably start by checking out how much site traffic currently comes from mobile… especially search.

SEO Is Not Dead – We’re Just Getting Smarter

Having worked on much larger sites over the last couple of years – we’ve learned our lessons about how effective the concept of “maximum exposure” is. In a nutshell – for large sites (and even not-so-large sites), a big part of the equation for success is actually getting all of your content crawled/found/spidered.

Two sessions in particular were pretty interesting, informative and reassuring here: “Universal Search Marketing Strategies and Tactics” as well as the “Advanced On-Site SEO Tactics & Strategies” session.

Universal search results have given us more opportunities to be competitive through image, video, news, shopping results, etc. Part of the value-add for an SEO is knowing the opportunities available and how to leverage them. We also really like fellow SEMpdx-er Matt Brown’s “Maximum Exposure” concept which further reiterated the fact that if you know how to use the tools at your disposal from XML and RSS and all their variations – you have a much better chance of getting your content found.

Paid Search (AKA PPC)

There wasn’t a lot for us that was NEW here, but it was nice to get some perspective on the various opportunities. Depending on your industry – there may be plenty of areas you aren’t pursuing. Starting with, literally, the “Opportunities” tab in the  Google AdW0rds interface. As our friend Joanna Lord put it during the “Advanced PPC” session (I’m paraphrasing here) ‘your competitors probably aren’t paying attention to the opportunities tab’. That’s reason enough to regularly check in.

A few other key takeaways/notes for marketers to think about:

• AdWords isn’t the only game in town for your paid search dollar
  • Excellent opportunity abound for many marketers as competition isn’t fierce in many categories on sites like Bing/Yahoo, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc
• Bing is gaining ground. Most advertisers are seeing higher conversion rates & lower costs-per-click but the volume isn’t there yet… and neither is the interface or desktop tool  (and ask anyone who actually uses either and they’ll tell you the same thing)

Social

Rather than regurgitate a ton of insights/stats and scream from the rooftops about how social and search go together like peanut butter and jelly, we’ll stick with the three primary things we got out of not only the sessions, but also simply out of talking to other attendees

1. Measurement/Track Your Results: for social – this is a moving target and still evolving. Measure what you can and takeaway what you can which it’s an uncomfortable position for search marketers – but the fact is, we simply don’t fully understand the true impact that social media has on the bottom line… This is not new – PR folks have always had this problem.
2. Have a Strategy and a Policy: To help mitigate some of the concerns about #1 above – it’s good to start with an actual plan.
3. Embrace failure… Too often we try to start out perfect and don’t really plan to evolve our strategies & tactics. Prepare to fail, learn, iterate and keep at it. Frankly – this goes for SEO too (and web site development at that). Too often the expectation is that “we’re going to do SEO to our site and then we’ll do the next thing”. Truth is – SEO is not a deliverable… it’s a process. Same with a true social presence.

Anyway – these are a few of my insights – but I thought you might like to see what Christian thought (he’s been to every SEMpdx SearchFest with me) and also what Jessica came away with (this was her first SearchFest).

Here are Christian’s thoughts after SearchFest

Another year, another solid SearchFest! I had a great time watching sessions, learning about some new tips and tricks (and being able to apply them to my client accounts) and doing some networking.

Once again this year, I was able to do some liveblogging for the SEMpdx blog. I liveblogged four different sessions:

• Social Media Strategies & Tactics
• Social Analytics
• Mobile Marketing Strategies & Tactics
• Universal Search Marketing Strategies & Tactics

I had a couple of favorite speakers this year. Matt McGee seems to always bring some great stuff each year and this year was no exception. Will Scott was a very engaging speaker and had a great presentation. He posted his slides on his blog as well as his key takeaways from the presentation. The Mobile Marketing Strategies & Tactics session label was a bit misleading; the session was more about “the state of the industry” than presenting any tactics. That being said, seeing the data presented, having a marketing plan for mobile users is definitely something every business should have.

Here are Jessica’s thoughts after SearchFest

Hello!  This is actually my first post to the Amplify Blog and I have to admit, I am kind of excited.  I moved from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Portland in January 2010 and was immediately bombarded with SearchFest chatter from my new friends.  Since we were still getting acclimated to our new city and swamped with too many boxes until the end of March, I was unable to attend that year’s event.  So SearchFest 2011 was my first and it did not disappoint.

First, may I say, the Governor Hotel is gorgeous and was a fantastic venue to host the event.  The food was abundant and similar to most large functions, chicken and a vegetarian pasta option.  The staff was very informative and attentive.  I appreciated the Clear Wireless internet that was available for the day.  They had a minor hiccup on the 2nd floor during the beginning of the day, but they resolved the issue within 5 – 10 minutes of the first session starting.

As for the sessions, I was in the intermediate track pretty much all day.  I found all the speakers to be informative, while still being entertaining.  A couple times I was concerned that the information was going to be too beginner for me, but before I could dwell on that fact, the speakers would start moving through their presentations at a faster pace and would talk about something I did not know or a new tool they were using that I had not heard of before.  The amount and value of new information far outweighed any information I already knew.  I met fabulous new people with great projects and innovative plans for the future.

So, do I think SearchFest 2011 was worth going to?  YES!  Am I excited about SearchFest 2012?  You better believe it!