Why Google hides your keywords
Until 2011, every analytics tool could see what a visitor had typed into Google. The search term travelled with the click, in the address of the page the visitor came from. Today it does not, and Google Analytics labels nearly all organic traffic (not provided).
How the keyword disappeared
Section titled “How the keyword disappeared”In October 2011 Google started encrypting searches for users who were signed in to a Google account. An encrypted search does not pass its search term to the website the visitor clicks through to, so the term never reached analytics. As more people signed in, more keywords disappeared.
In 2013 Google moved every search to encryption. The share of (not provided) went from around 40% to over 80%, and today it is well over 95%.
Other search engines followed. Bing hides a large share of its keywords too,
which is why Keyword Hero reports Bing traffic as (not provided)_bing.
Why no setting brings it back
Section titled “Why no setting brings it back”The search term is missing from the request itself. It is not hidden by Google Analytics, so no analytics setting, other tool or paid edition of Google Analytics shows it. Search terms for paid Google Ads clicks are still visible, because Google passes them to your own Ads account.
A common workaround replaces (not provided) with the landing page’s title, through a filter or rule in Google Analytics. It gives you a guess about the page, not the search term, and it overwrites the data Keyword Hero needs to match keywords. If your property has such a rule, remove it.
What it costs you
Section titled “What it costs you”Search Console still reports queries, impressions and clicks per page. What it cannot do is follow the visitor. Without the keyword in Google Analytics you cannot tell:
- which search terms lead to sales and which only to visits,
- how engagement differs between two keywords landing on the same page,
- whether a ranking gain brought customers or only traffic.
That is the gap Keyword Hero closes. How keyword matching works explains how.