We’re going to get a little esoteric today, and while the specific subject matter discussion may be unfamiliar the overall topic is one that concerns almost every business.
Image via CrunchBase
You might have heard something a year ago about the folks at Google restricting the availability of some information in analytics reporting. This information has to do with the specific search terms people use when coming to your web site if they are users who are signed into a Google account when they perform the search. What that means is if I’m logged into Gmail and jump into another tab to search for something, the sites I visit as a result of that search don’t see the term I used to get there. Instead, (not provided) shows up in the analytics report, and it’s not just in Google Analytics. Any analytics system sees that same (not provided) in lieu of the search term.
When Google made this change, they estimated that it would affect a small (under 20%) portion of the visits to most sites. However, a year later a study by Optify shows that 64% of companies analyzed in the study see between 30% and 50% of their traffic from Google as “(not provided),” and 81% see more than 30%. As someone who is constantly working with clients using this data, it’s gone from a nuisance to a real problem. Discoverability – getting found – is a constant battle, and every piece of information that helps us to understand how our content/products are found is important. That’s why this affects every business that’s on the web.
Of course, if you’re willing to use Google’s paid search program – AdWords – you can get the data. Why that mitigates the privacy concerns Google claimed were causing them to hide the information in the first place is beyond me. I’m sure if most users understood what information Google is capturing on their web habits (unless you’ve turned off their ability to do so) they’d be far less concerned about Google telling site owners how we came to be there and a lot more concerned about how Google is using the dozens of cookies they drop on our machines.
I like Google and use a lot of their services both free and paid. I use an Android-powered phone. I’m concerned, however, that just as they’ve done with Wave, Buzz, Google Video and others they’ve made a strategic error here. As in those cases, I’m hoping they re-think it. In the interim, they’re damaging the ability the rest of us have to make a better, more usable web.
Thoughts?
Consult Keith 