Google’s Keyword Shift
Last month, Google changed the way you can find information about how users search for your website. As a result, website owners can longer use Google Analytics to see which keywords people use to identify relevant sites.
Google further encrypted its searches to make things “more secure” for the user. And while that may be valid, the loss of the data has riled some online marketers. According to Business Insider:
…they’re angry because the data that has been switched off is the “organic” search data, not the paid search data generated when people click on search ads. In other words, the only data Google is now providing about exactly what words generate incoming traffic is for people who pay to advertise on Google.
Instead of the keyword search data, Google suggests using its Webmasters Tools, which provides similar information. But, as Business Insider points out, the Webmasters data is based on a sampling, or an average set of aggregated traffic.
What to do? Well, there are other functions of Google Analytics that can be used to glean relevant keyword data. Cloudburst has compiled a list of five helpful Google workarounds that they say will “give you a really good idea of search queries your site shows for, which queries you receive clicks for (or don’t!) and direction for keyword research.”
