If you have been a long while customer of analytics software like Clicky, Google Analytics, or perhaps Piwik you probably observed a rise in undefined keywords. For anyone who is a new comer to the statistics world, maybe you think the programs do not appropriately 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?
About a year ago, Google implemented a new level of security for users of their search engine. This Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) of protection keeps the user's search information private. This is great to protect your personal information. Not so great for the webmasters on the other end receiving 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 check out the Visitors in Real Time view on Piwik and check out my user's entrance pages. While it still makes use of the undefined keyword, I can observe what page website visitors came into. In the event that the keyword they utilized ranks well on Google it also gives you it's rank number. While this is not the perfect remedy, you will at least get an idea of what individuals may have searched for to land on specific pages of your site.
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?
About a year ago, Google implemented a new level of security for users of their search engine. This Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) of protection keeps the user's search information private. This is great to protect your personal information. Not so great for the webmasters on the other end receiving 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 check out the Visitors in Real Time view on Piwik and check out my user's entrance pages. While it still makes use of the undefined keyword, I can observe what page website visitors came into. In the event that the keyword they utilized ranks well on Google it also gives you it's rank number. While this is not the perfect remedy, you will at least get an idea of what individuals may have searched for to land on specific pages of your site.
About the Author:
Cindy Rodriguez is the owner of StylishInk.com, a modern graphic design company. Her site features a blog with tips for small internet business owners who are just starting out.. This article, How Secure Search Results Are Affecting Webmasters is released under a creative commons attribution license.
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