how i solved not provided

HOW I SOLVED (NOT PROVIDED) There’s way too much data out there for us to be crying over it. So I went ahead and solved it for you.

@iPullRank

DOWNLOAD THIS DECK http://slidesha.re/solve-not-provided

@iPullRank

@ipullrank

QUICK ANNOUNCEMENT

I HAVE RECENTLY

MOVED ON FROM

IACQUIRE. RIGHT

NOW I’M WORKING

AS AN

INDEPENDENT

CONSULTANT &

TRAINER.

HISTORY OF KEYWORD DATA What’s this not provided thing all about?

@iPullRank

IPULLRANK.COM @ipullrank

Keyword referrers

When a user searches the keyword is passed from Google in a the referral string in the q= variable to the website and

the site’s analytics strips this query and tracks it.


In October 2011 Google Announced a move to secure Search

Using the Secure (HTTPS) protocol no referrer is passed. Head of WebSpam Matt Cutts said that there would only be a

single digit percentage of searches that would be affected.

As with many features and products Google has

rolled out over the years adoption is the main

barrier to usage.


Immediately seos knew what they should expect

The single digit promise of not provided was a joke and we all knew it.



barrier to usage.

@iPullRank

Google says it’s due to privacy. Really it’s to protect their monopoly. They are really obscuring keyword referrers to make Adwords more valuable from

both an explicit intent standpoint and to make it so no other service provider can

provide their Search Remarketing product. Seriously, if it’s an invasion of privacy

for Organic than it’s an invasion of privacy in Paid as well.

3/2012 FIREFOX WENT SECURE SEARCH The view of the Earth from the Moon fascinated me—a small disk, 240,000 miles away. It was hard to think that that little thing held so many problems, so many frustrations. Raging nationalistic interests, famines, wars, pestilence don't show from that distance.

@iPullRank


Googlers were incentivized to encourage more logins into Google+

It’s part of people’s job description to keep users logged in to Google. http://searchengineland.com/google-is-hiring-

someone-to-find-ways-to-make-you-want-to-search-while-signed-in-144523



barrier to usage.

http://searchengineland.com/google-is-hiring-someone-to-find-ways-to-make-you-want-to-search-while-signed-in-144523

































1/2013 CHROME WENT SECURE SEARCH The view of the Earth from the Moon fascinated me—a small disk, 240,000 miles away. It was hard to think that that little thing held so many problems, so many frustrations. Raging nationalistic interests, famines, wars, pestilence don't show from that distance.

@iPullRank


September 2013 Google moved to secure Search for all users

Citing “privacy” in the wake of the NSA scandal Google announced a move to Secure Search for all users whether they

are logged in or not. Meanwhile Adwords advertisers still get keyword referrer data. http://iacq.co/19I0u15



barrier to usage.

http://iacq.co/19I0u15

http://iacq.co/19I0u15

THIS IS MY REACTION.

@iPullRank

WHAT ABOUT BRANDED VS. UNBRANDED?

@iPullRank iacquire.com

@iPullRank

WHAT ABOUT IDENTIFYING LONG TAIL SEARCHES?


@iPullRank

WHAT ABOUT DYNAMIC TARGETING BASED ON KEYWORDS?


@iPullRank

NONE OF THAT CHANGES MY ABILITY TO KNOW WHETHER SEARCH MADE US MONEY AND WHY


WHY I DON’T CARE Roll with it.

@iPullRank

REASON #1: KEYWORDS WERE ALWAYS JUST A PROXY Granted they were an awesome proxy, but you could still be the wrong piece of content for that user. Consider the keyword “subway,” the search means something completely different to a 25 year old in new york city than it does to 40 year old in topeka, kansas. Just knowing the keyword you searched for does not necessarily tell me what you want. Knowing who you are helps a lot more.

@iPullRank


…And I have looked to understand the people behind the search (reason #2)

We leverage market segmentation from Experian and Nielsen in context with Social PPC APIs to build robust personas

with user stories, demographics, psychographics and engagement insights to drive our SEO programs.



barrier to usage.


…and google is making it easier (Affinity segments)

Google also jumped on the segmentation train a few months back offering what they are calling “affinity segments” where

they have identified 80 different personas for targeting in Display channels. http://iacq.co/1aoVg9k



barrier to usage.

http://iacq.co/1aoVg9k

http://iacq.co/1aoVg9k


Reason #3: my keyword research methods are persona based

Rather than just putting together a list of keywords and search volumes we run surveys to understand where users are at

in the Consumer Decision Journey with their search. http://iacq.co/16a34zJ



barrier to usage.

http://iacq.co/16a34zJ

http://iacq.co/16a34zJ


Persona keyword surveys

You will have to pre-determine your audience with your persona research and then ask them specific questions about

your keyword selections with in-depth Skip Logic so each persona only responds about relevant searches.

Set Demographics Layout Questions with Interest-based Skip-Logic


The keyword portfolio

We pull all of these data points into our keyword research to have a very robust understanding of the users behind the

searches. This influences our content strategy and ultimately measurement planning.

Keyword

N-Gram Count

Avg. Monthly Broad Match Search Volume

Avg. Monthly Exact Match Search Volume

Mobile Broad Match Search Volume

Mobile Exact Match Search Volume

Previous Period Traffic

Previous Period Share of Voice

Previous Period Conversion Rate

Current Google Ranking

Target Persona(s)

Need State(s)

Keyword Category

Keyword Sub-Category

Current Landing Page

Target Landing Page

Conversion Rate

Rank Zone


Reason #4: my content strategy is kpi-driven

Certain content types work better for meeting certain business objectives and targeting certain types of users. We’re

already creating the right things to meet what makes sense in the given stage of the consumer decision journey.


Reason #5: Our Messaging resonates with the audience and need state

Our content strategy includes messaging that is focused on the needs of the people and messaging is optimized for the

given need state to encourage conversion.

Awareness Message

Consideration Message Loyalty Message


Reason #6: I’ve already developed methods for measuring people

I developed a methodology called Keyword-Level Demographics that leveraged keyword referrers in context of

demographic and psychographic data from Facebook to measure and validate personas http://iacq.co/11EED4u



barrier to usage.

http://iacq.co/11EED4u

http://iacq.co/11EED4u


Leverage user profiles for measuring segments

When sites have user profiles we can leverage them in context with analytics to understand which segments are

performing best and why.



barrier to usage.


I wrote about this on moz

I wrote an in-depth post about the insights that can be gained from user profiles and how they can be leveraged for

cohort analysis at Moz. http://iacq.co/1fLvCUj



barrier to usage.

http://iacq.co/1fLvCUj

http://iacq.co/1fLvCUj


Reason #7: I can already get plenty of data on the user

If you can get an email address or social login you can build a complete profile of a user using FullContact or RapLeaf.

Knowing what type of user goes you’re dealing with allows you to have the right messaging



barrier to usage.


Reason #7: We can already do awesome stuff.

We can already do a lot of great things with all this data about our users even though Google is killing the ability to do

keyword arbitrage through Organic Search.

Predictive Modeling Dynamic Targeting Keyword Arbitrage

IN OTHER WORDS… I AM ALREADY DOING MARKETING. And that’s what google is forcing everyone to do now.


CONTENT STRATEGY FOR MULTIPLE PERSONAS

How to do content strategy for several cohorts

@iPullRank


Not provided has effectively set us free

Google has essentially killed all awards for publishing awful content. Now with keyword-level measurement dead we have

more opportunities to create things people actually want to read. http://www.iacquire.com/blog/not-provided-sets-you-free/

http://www.iacquire.com/blog/not-provided-sets-you-free/










What are cohorts?

Cohorts are the same as personas, but it’s generally the terminology used when applied to statistics and refer to people

that have experienced the same behavior or event during a given timespan.



barrier to usage.


Create content specifically with personas/cohorts in mind

Each piece of content for iAcquire was presented and reviewed with regard to which of our personas we were targeting.

If the content did not meet one of those personas it was often denied or re-tooled.



barrier to usage.


When we don’t focus on the user…

When we only go after keywords based on search volumes we often get very unqualified traffic as seen here.



barrier to usage.


When we do focus on the user we got results

Focusing in on personas allowed us a 65% improvement in conversions YoY.



barrier to usage.


Oh yeah we g0t traffic too

At iAcquire from employing this process we’ve seen growth in Organic Search alone of over 1300% YoY.



barrier to usage.

GOOGLE GIVETH MORE THAN IT TAKETH AWAY

New Data means new ways to measure users

@iPullRank


This is the strategy most seos are using

Most smart SEOs have moved to landing page level reporting. Looking at traffic to the site, the ranking keywords, their

position and search volume to reverse engineer the performing keywords. http://www.searchmetrics.com/en/url-traffic/



barrier to usage.

http://www.searchmetrics.com/en/url-traffic/



i believe that’s shortsighted Google has given us a lot more data to get more in-depth understanding of users coming to our site via Organic Search. Why are trying to use muddy data to meet and old way of thinking?

iacquire.com @iPullRank


Cohorts in Google Analytics

Recently Google gave marketers the ability to set up cohorts in Google Analytics and therefore let us measure types of

people far more specifically. http://iacq.co/GR0S4u



barrier to usage.

http://iacq.co/GR0S4u

http://iacq.co/GR0S4u


Demographic data and affinity segments in google analytics!!!

Google also rolled out the ability to measure against affinity segments. Google Analytics now has the ability to track

demographic data (Age, Gender, etc) and Affinity Segment type. http://online-behavior.com/analytics/demographics



barrier to usage.

http://online-behavior.com/analytics/demographics



IMPLEMENT THIS CODE TO GET THE MOST DATA http://www.analyticsresults.com/2013/03/doubleclick-remarketing-and-adblock-our.html

<script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push( ['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXXX-1'],['_trackPageview'] ); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://' : 'http://') + 'stats.g.doubleclick.net/dc.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); window.onload = function() { if(_gaq.I==undefined){ _gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'tracking_script', 'loaded', 'ga.js', ,true]); ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; gaScript = s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); } else { _gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'tracking_script', 'loaded', 'dc.js', ,true]); } }; </script>

http://www.analyticsresults.com/2013/03/doubleclick-remarketing-and-adblock-our.html











Google+ as an identity platform suddenly makes sense

I predict that Google will supplant many market research providers such as Nielsen, ComScore and Experian by

providing robust end to end market research, targeting and measurement built on the back of Google+.


Cohorts based on demographics & affinity segment

Now you can track and analyze personas/cohorts directly in Google Analytics WITHOUT any other data sources.



barrier to usage.

@iPullRank

It’s time to move from explicit intent to implicit intent You still know the page the user has landed on, you now know what type of user it

is, you know which keywords rank for your landing page so now the real question

is “does my message and content fulfill a need that resonates with my target?”

Understand what makes your audience tick and determine the best way to

convince them your product or service is right for them. Conversion is still the

best measure of that.


Implicit intent vs. explicit intent

Explicit intent tells you specifically what someone is looking for, but it does not give you content around that user. Having

more complete context around actual visitors gives you better insights into how to tailor your messaging



barrier to usage.

Explicit Intent Scenario

Users Lands on the “men’s reading

glasses” landing from Organic search

on the keyword [reading glasses]

Time On Site: 00:01

Bounce Rate: 100%

Implicit Intent Scenario

Cohort Lands on the “men’s reading

glasses” landing page from Organic

Search

Age: 25 – 34

Gender: Female

Location: Reading, Pennsylvania

Affinity Segment: Do It Yourselfers

Time On Site: 00:31

Site Action: Visits Souvenir Reading

Glasses for Women page

Bounce Rate: 50%

This doesn’t tell me much about the user except that they were looking for “reading glasses,” but if we’re based in Reading, Pennsylvania that could be ambiguous.

This tells me that I need a better title and meta description to tell female users this is not right choice for them and some users are looking for souvenirs for Reading, Pennsylvania not eyeglasses for reading.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO RIGHT NOW The view of the earth from the moon!

@iPullRank


Understand and segment your audience

Build personas and use the affinity segments as your base and then set up filters and segments in GA so you can track

accordingly. Enable the code to get the demographic data into your analytics.



barrier to usage.


Use the keyword planner to discover what google thinks

Dropping your landing page into the keyword planner quickly tells you what keywords Google would consider for pages.



barrier to usage.


Track internal search

On site search becomes your hyper-relevant source for long tail keywords in context with your audience where you can

determine what opportunities your missing out on.



barrier to usage.


Infer search intent from site actions

Track the user’s first action in context with the channel they came from to infer intent. Carmen Mardiros wrote an

excellent post on this subject http://www.clearclues.com/not-provided-behavioural-analytics/

http://www.clearclues.com/not-provided-behavioural-analytics/









Measure Organic search as a channel

Organic Search is one channel of many. You should be reporting it as such, but in context of the audience searching and

their rate of conversion. Optimizations should be made based on landing page performance.



barrier to usage.


Track your rankings and search volumes

STAT is my favorite rankings tool due to accuracy, search volume data and ability to tag keywords with the segmentation

we’ve developed in our keyword portfolio. http://www.getstat.com



barrier to usage.

http://www.getstat.com/


Leverage google webmaster tools data

While its precision is questionable Google Webmaster Tools’ search queries section is a good way to get a sense of what

keywords are landing where if you still want to leverage explicit intent for optimization.



barrier to usage.


Understand your landing page conversion rates from Organic Search

Look at the conversion rates of your landing pages for traffic coming from Organic Search (Non-paid Search segment

and google filter) in context of your cohorts. This tells you where to A/B test your messaging.



barrier to usage.


Optimize against implicit intent and cohorts

There’s a tool called Nudgespot which allows you to easily setup dynamic targeting for different segments. A/B test to

improve conversion from Organic Search http://www.nudgespot.com



barrier to usage.

http://www.nudgespot.com/

www.ipullrank.com

Thank you / Q&A Michael King marketing consultant & trainer @iPullRank

Download this deck http://slidesha.re/solve-not-provided

how i solved not provided

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