Not-Provided

Definition

“Not-Provided” is a term that Google analytics uses to denote situations where it withholds search query data from your reports. This typically occurs due to privacy concerns, especially when people use encrypted Google search, or what’s commonly known as search over SSL. It essentially means that Google is keeping the specific keywords or phrases that someone used to find your site a secret.

Not-Provided Relevance For SEO

The “Not-Provided” data is important for SEO because it limits the ability of SEO specialists to understand precisely what organic terms users are searching for to arrive at their sites and pages. Understandably, this has made the job of SEOs a bit tricky. Before this change, SEOs could see exactly which keywords were performing well and attracting traffic. Alternatively, after ‘Not-Provided,’ some of that valuable information is hidden, causing a gap in the SEO keyword strategy.

Not-Provided Best Practices for SEO

While the ‘Not-Provided’ data limits some visibility, there are still best practices available for this challenge. SEO professionals can focus on a more topic-based approach rather than individual keywords. Using Google Search Console is another approach as it still provides some keyword data that isn’t available in Google Analytics. Also, examining landing page metrics can provide hints about what organic keywords might be bringing in traffic. Lastly, using Paid Search data is another workaround as these keyword insights are not encrypted. Continuously diversifying and refining your SEO strategies according to these practices can help mitigate the impact of ‘Not-Provided’ data in your analytic reports.