A lot of changes have been happening in Google lately. Here’s some information regarding Google Encrypted Search and its effect on your online business.
Google Encrypted Search explained
Google introduced Encrypted Search in 2010 to keep information about their users (such as Chrome and Gmail users) who were logged in securely. This security has now been expanded to include anyone who performs Google searches in the entire United States.
When users execute a search operation on Google.com, there is an encrypted connection created between Google and your browser. This very secure channel ensures that your search terms are protected and the results pages cannot be intercepted by anyone on your network.
This is a relief for users who are wary of sharing search data with each website they visit. All keyword data remains secure and is not passed on to owners of sites. This might not go down too well with site owners because they are unable to track users or segment them based on keywords used to reach a page.
This might prove a major disadvantage to marketing tools used for analysis of website traffic. Also, the direction of products and services on the basis of keywords becomes a problem. In all probability, marketers may have to let go of all their marketing data which is keyword based.
Is Encrypted Search on?
You may have noticed many visits to your website labeled as direct, unknown, organic, or not provided. This is sign that the changes have become apparent in your website traffic. NotProvided.com, the data collection website site is working on tracking Google Analytics related data from about 60 websites which include B2B and B2C. They forecast that many of these sites might have 100% keywords not provided by November 2013.
Are AdWords affected?
Advertisers on Google AdWords will continue to receive keyword data. So you can connect Adwords to Google Analytics and make use of the data to plan your marketing strategies.
There should be greater focus on rich content creation around keywords you plan to target. Users will continue to reach your site based on keywords entered in a search. The difference will simply be that which keywords are used will be unknown to you.
What are the alternatives?
It’s a good idea to pay greater attention to other search services like Yahoo and Bing. Users will not stop using the Google search engine because keyword data is no longer being given out. You can still make use of data about your website from other search engines and fine-tune accordingly.
If you run an AdWords campaign, you can use the data to check out your keyword optimization.
The creation of content rich pages is the key. People searching for something should get authentic and relevant organic content. Make use of focused landing pages to enable users to self-segment and you can create marketing channels on the basis of site visitors’ needs.
Content offerings like whitepapers that can be easily downloaded prove attractive to users. Make use of follow-up emails and customized landing pages to channelize the correct information to the correct place.
