Today, we talk about (not provided) in Google Analytics.
ACQUISITION: The acquisition reports are what drew me to Google Analytics, and as we go through these Acquisition elements, you'll see there is good reason why. These reports are insightful and empowering for any marketer who is tasked with driving traffic to your website.
The first question that the reports answer: how did our website visitors find us?
We will learn about search traffic, referrals and direct visitors. If you have ever wondered what the terms in a traffic report means, then stay tuned. We also help you understand how you can make these reports much more useful using campaign tracking.
(NOT PROVIDED): Still the Bane of SEO Existence
(Not provided) in Google Analytics refers to the unavailable data on keywords. These are the keywords used by visitors when searching for our website.
This letdown happened about 5 years ago (at the time of this writing). It rained down hard on my parade. I lost the ability of see the keyword referral strings of traffic coming to websites.
With the lost of keyword data, we're unable to see the intent of visitors. And this affects remarketing, paid search, organic search, and other activities.
Beginner. This disappointment need to be known right off the bat. It's an basic but hard lesson to be learnt.
- Try Google Search Console. Although it is a far-from-perfect replacement, you might still be able to squeeze some insights out. It tells you which landing pages are most viewed.
- Be resourceful. Try out other third party tools.
- Don't be fooled by the available keyword data. Almost all keyword data are lost, so there might be a few percent of data left available. But don't read too much into these few percent. These are the leftovers.
Want to know more about the Periodic Table of Google Analytics? Visit here for more information.