Digital Analytics - University of Utah: secure search

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Fighting the Secure Search Battle

Digital marketers have become accustomed to no longer being able to receive complete search term data. Google became the first to secure their search data with their announcement that all signed-in users would be secured in October of 2011. Now more than two years later, Yahoo has announced that they will follow Google’s lead and make Yahoo searches secure, causing digital marketers to once again scramble for ways to gain access to their keywords.

“Not Provided” by Google

The Google empire completed the full transition in September of 2013 as they confirmed that all searches would be secure by default. What this means is that instead of seeing the individual keyword or searched term in your analytics tool, you will see the phrase “not provided.” Marketers will know that a search happened but be unaware of the exact term used to bring the visitor to the site.

No Referrer with Yahoo

Yahoo is planning to fully shift to secure searches by March 31^st, 2014. Like Google, all searches will be done through a secure server. Unlike Google, there will be no “not provided” term in your analytics. Yahoo will not be sharing any information at all. All data driven from Yahoo will appear as though the visitor came directly to the site. The No Referrer policy will make it difficult for the analysts and digital marketer to differentiate between a Yahoo search and a direct visit.

Optional Secure Search at Bing

Bing continues to be that friend not willing to rock the boat. Bing still wants your friendship. In January, Bing officially launched secure search though it has been turned off by default. Digital marketers will continue to receive their Bing keywords for the time being.

If or when the user decides to turn on secure search with Bing, the data will appear similar to Yahoo's with a No Referrer policy.

Tips on How to Fight the Secure Search Battle

Use Bing. Even though Bing may only represent a small portion of your organic search volume, it can provide insight into visitor behavior and give you search term data.
Google Analytics may not provide specific keyword info, but Google Webmaster tools may still provide what you need. Experiment with the Search Queries report and you may be pleasantly surprised with what you find!
Use Google Adwords. Though Google claims that it has transitioned to secure search for security purposes, the keyword data can still be bought through Google Adwords.
Use site searches to understand what users are searching for on your site. You can receive valuable insights on potential keywords by tracking what users are searching for within your site.
Don’t worry and be patient. Mastermind search marketers will find ways to get our keywords back. Continue to stay updated with industry news and notes as valuable information is released and tools are developed.

Reference Links

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Google Secure Search, [not provided], and You

Back in May of 2010, Google announced that it would enable a feature known as “encrypted search” to prevent search terms from being included in the referral information to all web analytics programs.¹ This was eventually modified to “secure search” and stretched to those who were logged into Google accounts.² Then Firefox included it for all Google searches, as did iOS 6.³^,⁴ And when version 25 of Google Chrome officially releases, it will even enable secure search for users searching directly from the address bar; they don’t even need to be on www.google.com.⁵

So, what does this “secure search” mean for analysts and online firms? When secure search is enabled, any website clicked through Google is shown in web analytics programs as “www.google.com” and the search terms used to find that referral link are shown as [not provided]. Here is a snapshot of the search terms used for The Cultural Hall Podcast website when accessed through Google Analytics:

As you can see, over 36% of the search terms are disguised due to secure search. To make matters worse, all mobile iOS 6 referrers don’t just leave out the search terms, but neglect to track the referral link at all. Consequently, all traffic from these sources is being recorded as direct traffic.

It doesn’t seem that this trend is going anywhere any time soon. Web optimization company Nine By Blue took a sample of several sites from different industries with different audiences, and looked at how searches resulting in [not provided] have changed over a one-year period.

Obviously this shrouded data is troubling for sites. When search terms are mislabeled or misappropriated, it can make it more difficult to modify marketing campaigns and SEO practices. But there is a solution.

Vanessa Fox,⁶ Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land and former Google employee, recently outlined a workaround to this new problem: Google Webmaster Tools.⁷ While Google does hide search terms that are sent through referrals to analytics programs, it still tracks those terms through its Webmaster Tools. Not only that, but it also shows impression data, ranking, and click through rate for each separate term – information that your web analytics program likely is not giving you (at least not in the same format).

In addition to Google Webmaster Tools, it is important to note that search data is still available through paid search, such as Google Adwords. Secure search is also Google-specific, so all referrals from Bing, Yahoo! and other search engines are still arriving unfiltered and uncompromised.

While the increasing trend of [not provided] data is worrisome, Fox notes that focusing on the problem is not the answer. Companies need to start adapting now, analyzing and modifying their processes to try and glean the same insights they would from search terms using different methods, such as Webmaster Tools or implementing paid search.

^{1. Roseman, Evan. "Search more securely with encrypted Google web search." Google Blog. Google, 21 May 2010. 12 Feb. 2013.↩}
^{2. Sullivan, Danny. "Google To Begin Encrypting Searches & Outbound Clicks By Default With SSL Search." Search Engine Land. Search Engine Land, 18 Oct. 2011. 12 Feb. 2013.↩}
^{3. Sullivan, Danny. "Firefox 14 Now Encrypts Google Searches, But Search Terms Still Will “Leak” Out." Search Engine Land. Search Engine Land, 17 July 2012. 12 Feb. 2013.↩}
^{4. Sullivan, Danny. "How An iOS 6 Change Makes It Seem Like Google Traffic From Safari Has Disappeared." Search Engine Land. Search Engine Land, 1 Oct. 2012. 12 Feb. 2013.↩}
^{5. Langley, Adam. "Google Search in Chrome gets more secure." The Chromium Blog. Google, 18 Jan. 2013. 12 Feb. 2013.↩}
^{6. Search Engine Land. "Search Engine Land Contributors - Vanessa Fox." Search Engine Lane. Search Engine Land, 2013. 12 Feb. 2013.↩}
^{7. Fox, Vanessa. "Will [Not Provided] Ever Reach 100% In Web Analytics?." Search Engine Lane. Search Engine Land, 18 Jan. 2013. 12 Feb. 2013.↩}