Google Analytics provides an invaluable source of data on the behavior of its users and customers. However, there is a certain type of data that otherwise reliable Google Analytics might struggle with – the organic search report. Many results in organic search reports will be marked as “not provided” or “not set”, not suitable for reading and analysis. Considering how important keyword conversion tracking is, this can seriously lower the overall effectiveness of your website’s SEO. In the article, we explain the reason behind these “blind spots” in the data and discuss various ways to deal with them.
Google Analytics data from organic search
There are several ways Internet users can get to your website. Those who already know something about your products may visit your domain from their homepage, while others may find your website link on a blog or one of your official social media pages.
However, the largest number of viewers know nothing about you and will land on your site while searching for a service or product on the internet. The website contains keywords that match the customer’s query and therefore the search engine (e.g. Google) displays the link to your domain name among other matching results.
Users who enter your site this way generate organic traffic, and the keywords that bring them there are called organic keywords.
What is Google Analytics?
Working with organic keywords is essential for any website. Understanding which keywords are converting into leads or customers is crucial, and knowing your customer’s needs is never a bad thing. The simplest way to do this is to use Google Analytics.
Google Analytics is a free tool that collects information about the actions of users on your website. It is enabled by adding some tracking code lines to your site’s main code that will monitor user activities and then present you with the resulting data.
Linking GWT to Google Analytics
Another tool that any site owner should consider using is Google Webmaster Tools, a service that provides information about how Google search displays your website.
GWT and Google Analytics can (and should) be used together to greater effect. They can be connected in a few simple steps:
- Open the Admin Tab of Google Analytics and go to Property Settings.
- Click the drop-down menu and select the Google Analytics Property.
- A new page will appear with a list of sites verified by Google Website Tools. Select the site where you want to install Google Analytics and save the changes.
If you run into problems with the integration, the official Google guidelines can help.
How to find keywords (unspecified) that drive traffic to a particular page?
As we mentioned earlier, Google Analytics struggles when dealing with conversions for (unspecified) keywords. It began to lose effectiveness in October 2011, when Google began encrypting organic search data. Not all data is encrypted, but if a user has signed into a Google account or recently used services like Gmail, you won’t get any data on his behavior and keyword conversion. Google has declared that they are doing this in the name of user privacy, but the real reason behind this may be less trivial – they want you to use PPC ads.
Either way, you need to try to find a way. Possible ways to track organic keyword conversions for (unadjusted) keywords include:
Internal site search
Try placing a search box on every page of your website and let users directly search for your site’s content. This is called an internal site search, and the statistics from its analysis can provide necessary data on conversions for unadjusted keywords.
Previous records and data
If your site has been up for a while already, your Google Analytics has keyword conversion data for the days before the increase in user data encryption and this data may still be useful to you.
Since there is no guarantee that Google will keep this archived data forever, it is better to save it in cloud storage or hard disk.
Page-level surveys
Various tools, such as those used for page-level surveys, can also be used to extract keyword conversion data. While asking a user questions like “what keyword brought you to this page” won’t give you much feedback, something like “what is the purpose of your visit today” can give you surprisingly accurate information about the most popular keywords.
Research your competitors
You can understand a lot about the market and its trends by looking at how your competitors describe their products and what keywords they use the most.
Use the Keyword Hero tool to track unadjusted organic keyword conversion
Keyword Hero is a new tool specially designed to deal with the problems of (unspecified) keywords in Google Analytics.
It works by pulling search data from Google Search Console, using different data sources for keyword classification and clustering, and then using a machine learning algorithm to match them with Google Analytics data. This may sound a little strange, but the tool really works. Also, it has a free trial period, so you won’t lose anything if you try it.
Matching keyword data over time, from GWT to sales on specific page
There is another interesting (unspecified) way to fix keywords in Google Analytics. The Google Webmaster Tool can provide you with information on the number of clicks to your website from a single keyword. With GWT, you can collect data about individual keywords and then match them to sales (or some equivalent) on your website’s pages to get conversion-related data.
Although this technology has several limitations and the click report is different from a visit report in Google Analytics, it is one of the best ways to deal with the problem.
Learn keyword conversion from ads and match it with our organic traffic from GWT
Google Ads can now provide organic click data and therefore can be used to find keyword conversion. The data may look the same as the data in the Google Webmaster Tool, but it is not. In fact, you can increase the synergy between SEO and PPC by using Ads to find keyword conversion and comparing it to the organic traffic data we get from GWT.
How to set up Google Analytics for custom reporting?
Although Google Analytics is not suitable for tracking organic traffic, it still has at least one useful function: custom reporting. This feature lets you choose the dimensions and metrics of the report, as well as decide how the report is displayed (not all metrics and dimensions can be matched, so it’s a good idea to browse Google’s list of size-metric combinations).
To create a custom report, you must do the following:
- Make sure you’re signed in to Google Analytics (and choose the one you want if you have multiple accounts).
- Go to the “Reports” tab.
- Go to Customization > Custom Reports > New Custom Report.
- enter
- Choose a Report Type — There are four different report types: Navigator (which is standard), Flat Table (which shows data in rows), Map Overlay (world map with traffic statistics from different countries), and Funnel (a funnel chart).
- Select the metrics you want and d
- Apply the changes.
How to track organic keyword conversions with Google Analytics?
Despite the increase in encryption of user information, there are still a few ways to fix the (unspecified) keywords you need to run your business effectively in Google Analytics. Whether by combining existing software or using some new conversion tracking tools, you can still get the necessary information and plan your business accordingly.
