How to Hack "Not Provided" Keywords in Google Analytics | Lesson 6/8 | SEMrush Academy

Summary

In this sixth lesson of the keyword research course, Greg Gifford, VP of Search at Wikimotive, offers strategies to uncover 'not provided' keywords in Google Analytics. He suggests examining organic traffic at a page level to identify high-traffic concepts and using SEMrush's Organic Traffic Insights tool for detailed keyword performance analysis. The tool helps in understanding pre-click and post-click data, filtering keywords, and monitoring performance over time, enabling marketers to optimize their sites effectively.

Takeaways

• 🔍 Greg Gifford, VP of Search at Wikimotive, discusses strategies to uncover 'not provided' keywords in Google Analytics.
• 📈 Google Analytics initially showed specific search terms but stopped displaying them to protect user privacy nearly a decade ago.
• 🌐 To work around the 'not provided' issue, Gifford suggests examining organic traffic at a page level to identify which pages receive the most organic visits.
• 📊 With Google's entity-based search, marketers should focus on concepts rather than specific keywords for SEO optimization.
• 🛠 SEMrush's Organic Traffic Insights tool can help determine which terms are driving the most traffic, requiring access to the site's Google Analytics account.
• 🔗 It's recommended to connect Google Analytics with Search Console for more accurate results with SEMrush's tool.
• 📝 The Organic Traffic Insights tool provides a table of top landing pages sorted by organic sessions, offering insights into high-traffic concepts.
• 📉 By comparing pre-click and post-click data, marketers can assess which pages are performing well and identify areas for improvement.
• 🔑 Clicking on a keyword account for a landing page reveals a detailed report, including a list of keywords that are driving or could drive traffic.
• 📈 The detailed page report allows for daily monitoring of keyword performance, traffic effects, audience behavior, and goal completions.
• 🔑 Users can filter and sort keywords by type, position, volume, difficulty, and traffic share, and even by Search Console data if toggled.
• 🔄 SEMrush's interconnected tools enable users to send important keywords to the position tracking tool for ongoing performance monitoring and competitor comparison.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video script?

The main topic of the video script is discussing methods to uncover 'not provided' keywords in Google Analytics, which are search terms that Google has stopped showing to protect user privacy.

Who is Greg Gifford and what is his role?

Greg Gifford is the Vice President of Search at Wikimotive, a US-based SEO agency. He is the presenter of the sixth lesson in a keyword research course.

Why did Google Analytics stop showing specific search terms?

Google Analytics stopped showing specific search terms nearly 10 years ago to protect users' privacy.

What is the first method Greg suggests to find out which pages are getting the most organic traffic?

The first method Greg suggests is to look at organic traffic at a page level in Google Analytics and identify which pages are receiving the most organic visits.

How does understanding which pages are getting the most organic traffic help with SEO?

Understanding which pages are getting the most organic traffic helps with SEO by identifying which concepts are showing up most often in search results, allowing for better optimization of the site.

What tool does Greg recommend for analyzing organic traffic insights?

Greg recommends using SEMrush's Organic Traffic Insights tool to analyze which terms are bringing the most traffic to a website.

What is required to use SEMrush's Organic Traffic Insights tool effectively?

To use SEMrush's Organic Traffic Insights tool effectively, you need access to the Google Analytics account of the site you're analyzing and it's recommended to have Google Analytics connected to Search Console.

What kind of information does SEMrush's Organic Traffic Insights tool provide?

The tool provides a table showing the top 50 landing pages sorted by the number of organic sessions, along with pre-click data like impressions and ranking position, and post-click data such as bounce rate and goal completion.

How can the Organic Traffic Insights tool help identify potential areas for content improvement?

By comparing pre-click and post-click data, the tool helps identify pages that are performing well and those that could be improved, guiding content optimization efforts.

What additional feature does SEMrush offer for keyword tracking after identifying them through the Organic Traffic Insights tool?

SEMrush allows you to send important keywords to the Position Tracking tool for ongoing performance monitoring and comparison with competitors.

How can one become SEMrush certified after completing the keyword research course?

After completing the keyword research course, one can visit the SEMrush Academy page and take the test for the course to become officially SEMrush certified.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Hacking 'Not Provided' Keywords in Google Analytics

Greg Gifford, the VP of Search at Wikimotive, introduces the sixth lesson of a keyword research course. He discusses the challenge of identifying keywords that Google Analytics now hides under 'not provided' due to privacy concerns. Gifford suggests looking at organic traffic at a page level to deduce which concepts are popular among users. He also recommends SEMrush's Organic Traffic Insights tool, which requires Google Analytics and Search Console access for optimal results. The tool helps identify top landing pages and the keywords driving traffic, offering insights into performance metrics such as bounce rate and goal completion. Gifford emphasizes the importance of understanding manual processes alongside using tools for effective SEO.

05:01

🎓 SEMrush Certification and Course Completion

The script concludes with an encouragement for viewers to complete the course and get officially certified by SEMrush. It includes a call to action to engage with Greg Gifford or the SEMrush Academy team for any questions, suggesting a community of professionals ready to support learning and certification. The music signifies the end of the lesson and the transition to the next phase of the viewer's journey with SEMrush.

Keywords

💡Greg Gifford

Greg Gifford is the Vice President of Search at Wikimotive, a US-based SEO agency. He is the presenter of the video and provides insights into keyword research techniques. In the script, he introduces himself and the lesson's focus, setting the stage for the discussion on overcoming the 'not provided' keywords issue in Google Analytics.

💡Keyword Research

Keyword research is a fundamental aspect of search engine optimization (SEO), involving the process of identifying and analyzing search terms that people enter into search engines. In the video, Greg Gifford discusses strategies to uncover keywords that drive traffic to websites, despite the 'not provided' limitation in Google Analytics.

💡Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. In the script, it is mentioned as a tool that once showed specific search terms leading to websites but now hides them to protect user privacy, creating a challenge for marketers to understand user behavior.

💡Not Provided Keywords

The 'not provided' keywords issue refers to the circumstance where Google Analytics no longer displays the exact search terms used by users to find a website. This change was made to enhance user privacy. In the video, Greg Gifford addresses this issue and offers ways to work around it.

💡Organic Traffic

Organic traffic refers to visitors that come to a website through search engines without any paid advertising. In the script, Greg Gifford suggests looking at organic traffic at a page level to understand which pages are attracting the most visitors, indicating the popularity of certain concepts or topics.

💡SEMrush

SEMrush is a digital marketing tool that provides various services, including SEO, PPC, and competitive analysis. In the video, Greg Gifford introduces SEMrush's Organic Traffic Insights tool as a method to identify which terms are driving traffic to a website, despite the 'not provided' keywords in Google Analytics.

💡Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free service offered by Google that helps website owners monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot their website's presence in Google Search results. In the script, Greg Gifford mentions the importance of connecting Google Analytics with Google Search Console to enhance the Organic Traffic Insights tool's effectiveness.

💡Entity-Based Search

Entity-based search refers to Google's approach to understanding search queries in terms of entities, which are real-world objects, concepts, or people. In the video, Greg Gifford mentions that with entity-based search, marketers don't need to focus on exact keywords but rather on the concepts that are ranking well.

💡Impressions and Ranking Position

Impressions refer to the number of times a webpage appears in search results, while ranking position is the position of the webpage in those search results. In the script, Greg Gifford explains that SEMrush's tool provides insights into these metrics, helping to understand the performance of organic landing pages.

💡Bounce Rate

Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page. It is an important metric for understanding user engagement. In the video, Greg Gifford discusses how the Organic Traffic Insights tool provides post-click data, including bounce rate, to assess page performance.

💡Goal Completion

Goal completion refers to the successful achievement of a predefined objective on a website, such as a sale or form submission. In the script, Greg Gifford explains that SEMrush's tool shows goal completion data, which is crucial for evaluating the effectiveness of the traffic generated by organic search.

Highlights

Introduction to the sixth lesson in the keyword research course by Greg Gifford, focusing on hacking 'not provided' keywords in Google Analytics.

Google Analytics used to show specific search terms leading to a website, but stopped showing this data to protect user privacy.

Greg suggests looking at organic traffic at a page level to understand which pages are getting the most organic visits.

Understanding which concepts are ranking well can help determine how customers are searching for content.

SEMrush's Organic Traffic Insights tool is highlighted as a valuable resource for analyzing keyword traffic.

Access to Google Analytics and Search Console is required for using SEMrush's Organic Traffic Insights tool.

The tool provides a table showing the top 50 landing pages sorted by the number of organic sessions.

Manual methods are emphasized for a better understanding, despite the convenience of tools.

SEMrush tool shows pre-click data like impressions and ranking position, and post-click data like bounce rate and goal completion.

Comparing pre-click and post-click data helps determine which pages are performing well.

Clicking on a keyword account shows a detailed report of all keywords that brought traffic to a page.

Filtering keywords by type, position, volume, and other metrics is possible in the detailed page report.

SEMrush allows sending important keywords to the position tracking tool for ongoing performance monitoring.

SEMrush's interconnected tools enable easy navigation and analysis of keyword performance.

Encouragement to check out the next lesson and take the test for SEMrush certification.

The importance of not relying solely on tools and understanding manual methods is reiterated.

SEMrush Academy is mentioned as a resource for further learning and certification.

Transcripts

[Music]

hey i'm greg gifford the vice president

of search at us-based seo agency

wikimotive in this lesson the sixth in

the keyword research course we're going

to be talking about a few ways to hack

the not provided keywords in google

analytics if you're new to the seo game

or even a few years in you've never

experienced the glorious wonderment of

opening google analytics and seeing

exactly which keywords users typed in to

find your website

in the early days google analytics would

show the specific search terms that

users entered into the search engine

that then led them to your site you'd

even see how many times each turn was

searched almost 10 years ago google

decided to protect users privacy and

stop showing the terms that they

searched for and business owners and

marketers freaked out all over the world

how are we going to know what matters

how are we going to know how to optimize

our sites the sky is falling the sky is

falling

well the world didn't end and we're all

still here just with a bit less data so

in this lesson i'm going to share a few

tips to help you find other ways to see

that data my favorite way to solve the

riddle is to look at organic traffic at

a page level click into your organic

traffic and then see which pages are

getting the most of that organic traffic

if you know which pages are getting the

most organic visits you know which

concepts are showing up the most often

now that google search is entity based

you don't have to worry so much about

the particular keywords if you know that

the concepts are ranking well you can

figure out the ways that customers are

searching for that content semrush also

has a killer tool to help figure out

which terms are bringing you the most

traffic the organic traffic insights

tool you're going to need access to the

google analytics account for the site

that you're analyzing so if it's a new

client make sure you've got that access

before you try to use the tool you'll

get much better results if you've got

google analytics connected to search

console so make sure you've got that

connection in place before you start

you've got to set the tool up so log in

click the projects link on the left and

then click organic traffic insights

semrush will then ask you to connect

your google analytics account you'll

then need to select the country database

and device that you'd like to use for

the analysis after you've gone through

these steps you'll see a table that

shows your top 50 landing pages sorted

by the number of organic sessions so

basically the tool is giving you the

same information i told you to look up

at the beginning of the lesson

if you've watched any of the other

lessons or courses i've done you already

know i'm a big fan of knowing how to do

things manually tools are awesome and

will save you tons of time but you're a

better marketer if you understand how to

do things yourself too much reliance on

tools can be a bad thing

so take a look at the list of organic

landing pages the tool shows impressions

and ranking position pre-click data and

it also shows post-click data like

bounce rate and goal completion when you

compare the pre-click and post-click

data you can figure out which pages are

doing well and which ones could be

performing better when you click on one

of the keyword accounts for a landing

page either search console data or data

from semrush you'll see the detailed

report for that page boom

now you can see a list of all the

keywords that brought traffic or could

potentially bring traffic to the page

you're welcome this detailed page report

also lets you see how the keywords are

performing on a daily basis how your

traffic is affected what your audience

is doing and goal completions on the

page notice you can filter keywords by

keyword type new lost winner or loser

you can also sort by metrics position

volume keyword difficulty and traffic

share if you toggle search console data

you can filter by keyword type ranking

position clicks and click-through rate

it's easy to go really far down the

rabbit hole on these page detail reports

again i like to just click around

through the filters looking for

interesting patterns look for newly

acquired keywords new phrases that are

bringing traffic to your site in many

cases this gives you an idea of which

content you need to work on a little bit

more just like the other tools in sem

rush everything is interconnected when

you find a keyword that's important to

you just click the button to send it to

the position tracking tool and then you

can monitor your performance over time

and even compare it to competitors

performance on the same phrase so that's

how you use the awesome organic traffic

insights tool to take your keyword

research to another level and that's it

for lesson six of the keyword research

course we hope you learned something

awesome and if you've got any questions

feel free to tweet them to me directly

at greg gifford or to the awesome team

of pros over at the sem rush academy at

semrush academy don't forget to check

out the next lesson and when you think

you're ready head over to the semrush

academy page and take the test for this

course so you can get officially semrush

certified

[Music]

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