‘Not Provided’ in Google Analytics: How to Reclaim Your Keyword Data

In Google Analytics, erstwhile you spot “(not provided)” alternatively of the queries that led searchers to your website, this means Google is covering integrated keywords information successful the involvement of protecting the privateness of searchers.

But nary worries, this doesn’t mean you have configured your Google Analytics incorrect oregon your information is lost. In this article, we’ll screen 2 solutions to the “not provided” occupation and immoderate tips connected however to usage your recently acquired keyword data:

• Solution 1. Use Google Search Console 
• Solution 2. Use Ahrefs Webmaster Tools
• 3 tips connected however to usage your keyword data

Google Search Console (GSC) is simply a escaped instrumentality from Google designed to show and troubleshoot your website’s quality successful the hunt results. On apical of revealing integrated queries that led to your website, you tin usage GSC to find and hole method errors, taxable sitemaps, spot backlinks, and more.

To spot your integrated keywords data, you request to acceptable up the tool. You tin larn however to bash this successful our guide to mounting up GSC.

Now, let’s spot what benignant of information you volition find successful GSC. We’ll commencement with the main crushed wherefore you’d privation to usage GSC: You tin spot your integrated keywords successful the Performance report, which you’ll find here:

Once your information becomes available, you volition spot your keywords successful the Queries tab located successful the bottommost panel:

Here’s what this data means:

• Top queries refer to Google Search queries (i.e., keywords) that generated impressions of your website. This means whenever your website’s URL shows up successful Google’s hunt results (this tin beryllium web search, representation search, video search, oregon Google News), the keyword that caused that content volition beryllium reported here.
• Clicks are the fig of clicks coming to your website’s URL from integrated hunt results. Note this excludes paid Google Ads hunt results. Any click that takes the idiosyncratic extracurricular of the hunt results is considered a click. And erstwhile idiosyncratic clicks a nexus to a page, returns to the SERP (search motor results page), and past clicks connected that leafage again, it counts lone arsenic one click.
• Impressions are the fig of times immoderate URL from your website appeared successful the hunt results. Note this does not needfully connote the searcher has seen your website. This conscionable means it has been displayed.

It whitethorn instrumentality a portion for Google to commencement showing your data. But the bully quality is erstwhile your information is in, you’ll spot up to 16 months of retroactive data.

Other tabs successful the Performance study volition amusement you clicks and impressions for:

• URLs of pages that were entered coming from the SERPs.
• Countries where the hunt came from.
• The type of device on which the hunt was performed.
• Grouped information for specific types oregon features of hunt results (Search Appearance tab). This information is reserved for hunt results different than emblematic bluish links, specified arsenic look galleries, reappraisal snippets, videos, how-to results, and more.
• Dates (shown successful Pacific Time Zone).

And truthful present it is. The archetypal solution to “not provided” keywords is arsenic elemental arsenic mounting up GSC and waiting for your information to travel in. But earlier we get into the 2nd solution, let’s spot what different things Google offers successful the Performance report.

Starting from the top, we person the filters.

They let you to show lone information that meets definite criteria. By default, you tin filter by hunt benignant and date. Additionally, the “Search type” filter allows you to comparison sources:

You tin besides crook connected further filters for a peculiar query, page, country, oregon device.

Below the filters, you person the overview sheet with different acceptable of filters and a graph that dynamically displays the information acceptable successful filters and plotted against time. These filters besides impact the information shown successful the Keyword report. So if you tick the CTR filter, CTR information volition beryllium shown adjacent to “Clicks” and “Impressions”:

Since we’ve already touched connected clicks and impressions, let’s spot what CTR (click-through rate) and mean presumption are about:

• CTR is the percent of integrated impressions that effect successful a click.
• Average position is the mean presumption of your tract successful the hunt results based connected the site’s highest presumption whenever it appears successful a search.

It’s worthy noting that Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4 users tin integrate GSC information into Analytics to spot each information successful one tool.

To integrate your Google Universal Analytics with GSC, make definite you acceptable up some services for the aforesaid property. Then entree your Google Analytics and:

1. Choose your spot (i.e., website you privation to spot data for).
2. Go to the Admin panel.
3. In the Product Linking section, take All products.
4. Look for “Search Console” and click Link Search Console.
5. Follow the steps successful the setup wizard to link your GSC information with Universal Analytics data.

To integrate your Google Analytics 4 with GSC, marque definite you person acceptable up some services for the aforesaid property. Then entree your Google Analytics and:

1. Choose your spot (i.e., website you privation to spot data for).
2. Go to the Admin panel.
3. In the Product Linking section, take Search Console Linking. If you don’t spot that enactment yet, you whitethorn request to hold a fewer days; this is arsenic the integration diagnostic is inactive connected the rollout.
4. In the Search Console linking panel, click Link.
5. Follow the steps successful the setup wizard to link your GSC information with Google Analytics 4 data.

That’s it for unlocking your integrated keywords information successful Google Analytics with the assistance of Search Console—our archetypal solution. But that is not the extremity of your options for moving with integrated keywords. This brings america to the 2nd solution for “not provided.”

As already mentioned, GSC has its limitations, with the astir important being the 1,000-keyword limit. If you request to enactment astir this limit, you tin see an SEO instrumentality similar Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (AWT).

It is our escaped instrumentality that allows you to amended your website’s SEO show and get much postulation from search. AWT has 4 main advantages implicit GSC erstwhile it comes to integrated keywords. It shows you:

1. All known keywords. No 1000-keyword limit here.
2. SEO metrics for pages and keywords.
3. A depersonalized SERP snapshot with competitory data.
4. SERP features for each keyword.

Also, the information concerning your website is disposable starting from the clip our web crawler discovers and crawls your website. This means that with Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, you tin entree humanities information older than 16 months (which is Search Console’s limit).

So let’s spot however AWT works. Once you acceptable it up, click connected the “Organic keywords” widget successful the task overview…

… and you volition beryllium directed to the Organic keywords report:

By default, you volition beryllium presented with the pursuing information (from near to right):

• Keywords that searchers utilized to find your website—your solution to the “not provided” problem.
• SF stands for SERP Features that look successful hunt results for a keyword.
• Volume shows the fig of mean monthly searches for a keyword.
• Keyword Difficulty (KD) gives an estimation of however hard it is to fertile successful the apical 10 integrated hunt results for a keyword connected a 100-point scale.
• Cost Per Click (CPC) shows the mean terms that advertisers wage for each advertisement click successful paid hunt results for a keyword.
• Traffic shows an estimation of the monthly integrated hunt postulation that your people gets from a fixed keyword.
• Change (next to Traffic) refers to the alteration successful postulation betwixt your selected dates.
• Position is the top-ranking presumption of your people for a keyword.
• Change (next to Position) refers to the alteration successful presumption betwixt your selected dates.
• URL refers to the URL that is ranking successful hunt results for a keyword.

Next to the URL information are 2 nifty tools that show competitory information astir your keywords. The archetypal 1 with the “line chart” icon shows the presumption past of the URL oregon URLs ranking for a keyword:

The 2nd 1 shows you a depersonalized SERP overview for a keyword. Also, it allows you to presumption humanities SERPs for a keyword.

Above your keyword data, determination are filters you tin usage to show information that meets definite criteria, specified arsenic the state wherever the keyword comes from, presumption successful SERP, hunt volume, oregon hunt for a peculiar keyword.

As seen successful the supra screenshots, there’s a batch you tin bash with Ahrefs Webmaster Tools. Here, we’re lone showing a fragment of the functionality related to integrated keywords. In the video below, we spell done different features that tin assistance you successful SEO and stock however to acceptable up the tool.

So determination you person it—two antithetic solutions to the “not provided” problem. Both are escaped to use. So spell up and effort them some without immoderate commitments. You tin adjacent tally them successful parallel.

In fact, if you already person GSC up and running, it’s easier to acceptable up Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, as you tin verify your spot successful it utilizing GSC. On apical of that, you tin spot the GSC information overview close in AWT.

One past happening worthy knowing astir these solutions is they show information utilizing antithetic sources. Google displays information from its ain services, and Ahrefs aggregates information from aggregate sources.

Knowing which integrated keywords bring postulation to your website is great. This is due to the fact that you tin usage that cognition to amended your SEO and turn your integrated traffic. Here are 3 speedy ideas to bash that. Note that we volition beryllium utilizing some GSC and Ahrefs Webmaster Tools.

1. Optimize pages with underperforming keywords

Underperforming keywords are those keywords wherever you don’t fertile successful positions #1 oregon #2. The crushed being astir radical click 1 of the archetypal 2 hunt results. And if you’re not 1 of those results, you’ll miss retired connected a batch of integrated traffic.

To find your underperforming keywords utilizing Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, access your Organic keywords report by clicking connected the “Organic keywords” widget successful the task overview. Once successful the report, acceptable the state you privation to spot information for. Also, acceptable the Position filter to “3.”

In a flash, you volition get a database of keywords that fertile successful presumption #3 oregon lower. These are the keywords that are underperforming.

Now you tin browse done that database to make a shortlist of pages for optimization. A bully signifier is to usage the SERP instrumentality to spot who ranks supra you successful the SERPs. That way, you tin gauge the probability of outranking them. To illustrate, determination is small accidental for america to outperform Google for the keyword “google keyword planner.”

As for the optimization itself, present are a fewer ideas connected what you can do:

• Improve on-page SEO
• Add much applicable internal links 
• Get much backlinks

2. Optimize pages with debased CTR but precocious keyword ranking

If you retrieve from the erstwhile sections, CTR is the percent of integrated impressions that effect successful a click to your website.

Generally, a leafage with a precocious ranking connected the SERP should analogically person a precocious CTR. This is arsenic radical thin to click hunt results with precocious rankings. And the higher the CTR, the higher the postulation to your site.

But successful immoderate cases, pages ranking precocious tin person a little than mean CTR. With the assistance of GSC, you tin rapidly find these pages, analyse the origin of their performance, and spot if there’s a mode to amended CTR.

To bash this, spell to the Performance study successful GSC. Tick the Average CTR and the “Average position” filters. Then filter for keywords with mean rankings beneath 3.1. This way, you volition spot pages that you already fertile for successful the top three.

Now benignant the study by CTR successful ascending order. Then look for keywords with tons of impressions but debased CTR. Here’s an illustration of specified a keyword.

As you tin astir apt guess, for presumption #3 successful the SERP, the CTR present should beryllium mode higher. Meaning, we’re someway missing retired connected a batch of imaginable postulation that could spell to our nonfiction connected DIY SEO.

In the lawsuit of this keyword, the origin of debased show tin beryllium seen conscionable by analyzing the SERP. Our webpage, though ranking high, is “buried” nether ads, a featured snippet, a video carousel, and a People Also Ask box. Those elements of the SERP astir apt get the astir attraction from searchers.

So a viable solution, successful this case, is to effort and optimize our nonfiction connected DIY SEO to triumph a featured snippet.

3. Find casual keywords to rank for 

As you whitethorn know, a azygous leafage tin fertile for hundreds of keywords. (We adjacent did a study connected this subject.) Some of the keywords tin adjacent origin a leafage to beryllium ranked unintentionally. This means Google tin subordinate a webpage with a keyword adjacent if you haven’t specifically targeted the keyword with a page.

When that happens, this is simply a motion you should make caller contented optimized for that “unintentional” keyword. If so, you could get much postulation than what you presently receive. And the little the KD, the easier it is mostly to make contented that volition rank high.

You tin look for low-difficulty keywords utilizing the KD metric successful Ahrefs Webmaster Tools. Just unfastened the Organic keywords report and enactment thing debased similar “20” successful the KD filter. Then benignant the results by measurement to spot opportunities with the highest potential. Here’s an illustration from a blog connected web design:

As you tin see, the “tinder ui” keyword has a precocious hunt volume. But it doesn’t bring immoderate postulation to the leafage that ranks for it due to the fact that of the debased presumption successful the SERP. However, creating new, dedicated contented targeting that keyword could assistance the blog fertile higher and get further integrated traffic.

Final thoughts  

In this article, we’ve seen 2 antithetic solutions for incomplete keyword reports successful Google Analytics (both Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4). Both Search Console and Ahrefs Webmaster Tools will supply penetration into the integrated keywords that brought radical to your website and/or made your website look successful the SERPs.

But if you privation to spell beyond conscionable knowing what your integrated keywords are, I urge keeping some of those escaped tools moving successful parallel. This way, you volition person entree to much information and tin spot much opportunities for growth, arsenic shown successful the 3 SEO tips above.

And if you’re superior astir increasing integrated traffic, tools similar GSC and AWT are simply must-haves.

Want to larn much than conscionable the SEO tactics mentioned here? Head to our complete usher connected SEO.

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