If you have been a long time user of analytics software such as Google Analytics, Clicky or Piwik you probably noticed a spike in undefined keywords. If you are new to the analytics world, then you probably just assume the programs do not properly track keywords.
I had just finished a major redesign of a website. Suddenly, I started seeing keyword not defined in my Piwik reports. At the time I was not using Google analytics, but I decided to install it assuming that my redesign broke my software. As soon as I got Google Analytics set up I saw a lot of my traffic came from "not provided" keywords. So the good news was that I had not broken my website. But why couldn't I see these keywords?
Not long ago, Google executed a whole new measure of protection for users of their search engine. This Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) of security maintains the user's search info confidential. This is great to preserve personal information. Not so great for the website owners on the other end getting undefined keywords.
SSL searches are automatically enabled when users are logged into their Google accounts (which includes being logged into Gmail.) Secure searches are also enabled by default on many browsers, including Safari on iPhone. I just checked from my Chrome browser as well as Safari on OS X, while not logged onto Google and searches were secure by default. As you can see, this is causing an increasing number of searches to show up as undefined keyword errors.
I go to the Visitors in Real Time view on Piwik and view my user's entry pages. Although it still uses the undefined keyword, I can see what page visitors entered from. If the keyword they used ranks well on Google it also gives you it's rank number. While this is not the perfect solution, you can at least get an idea of what people might have searched for to land on certain pages of your website.
I had just finished a major redesign of a website. Suddenly, I started seeing keyword not defined in my Piwik reports. At the time I was not using Google analytics, but I decided to install it assuming that my redesign broke my software. As soon as I got Google Analytics set up I saw a lot of my traffic came from "not provided" keywords. So the good news was that I had not broken my website. But why couldn't I see these keywords?
Not long ago, Google executed a whole new measure of protection for users of their search engine. This Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) of security maintains the user's search info confidential. This is great to preserve personal information. Not so great for the website owners on the other end getting undefined keywords.
SSL searches are automatically enabled when users are logged into their Google accounts (which includes being logged into Gmail.) Secure searches are also enabled by default on many browsers, including Safari on iPhone. I just checked from my Chrome browser as well as Safari on OS X, while not logged onto Google and searches were secure by default. As you can see, this is causing an increasing number of searches to show up as undefined keyword errors.
I go to the Visitors in Real Time view on Piwik and view my user's entry pages. Although it still uses the undefined keyword, I can see what page visitors entered from. If the keyword they used ranks well on Google it also gives you it's rank number. While this is not the perfect solution, you can at least get an idea of what people might have searched for to land on certain pages of your website.
About the Author:
Cindy R. is a graphic & web designer at StylishInk.com. Her website features a blog for new internet entepreneurs.
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