April’s big story in the world of search marketing was Google's move to remove paid search query data from Google Analytics, in a similar way to its removal of organic search query data at the end of 2011. For the SEO community, the organic traffic change was a significant development because it removed search marketers' main source of search query data. However, for PPC advertisers, the impact should be much less drastic. The paid search team at digital agency Crafted has put together a brief document to help answer some of the questions you may have about the change.

1. Crafted
INFORMATION
PPC Queries: (Not Provided)
in Google Analytics

2. Crafted
INFORMATION
Crafted information
PPC Queries: (Not Provided)
in Google Analytics
What has Google done?
Traffic from paid Google ads has now been made
secure, and search query information has been
removed from outgoing URLs. Effectively, the
query on Google that led to each paid search click
is no longer passed through to the destination
website. This has brought paid traffic in line with
traffic from the organic Google listings, which
has been secure and has had this information
stripped out for the past couple of years.
Why has Google done this?
Google has cited increased security as the reason
for this change, as it felt that users may not wish
to have their search queries seen by the sites that
they visit, and to prevent the potential misuse
of this information.
What does this mean for me?
Query level data from Google ad traffic will now
show up as “(not provided)” in Google Analytics.
This means that this source of information for the
majority of paid traffic will no longer be available.
All other AdWords data in Analytics will be
unaffected, so you will still be able to compare the
relative performance of this channel against other
traffic sources, and access data at campaign and
ad group data.
What do I need to do about it?
In short, probably not much. Crucially, keyword
and search query information will be available
as usual from the AdWords interface, so the main
methods for keeping track of patterns in search
behaviour, and for bid and keyword optimisation,
will be unaffected. Search query information will
also continue to be available through Webmaster
Tools. Analytics has always been a supplementary
source of information for most advertisers at a
search query level, so the impact will be relatively
small and the usual good practices for keyword
monitoring will still be possible.
Will it affect bid and campaign management tools?
Marin have recently released a statement that
their platform will be unaffected by the changes,
as they take their search data directly from the
AdWords API and use their own URL parameters
(such as keyword IDs) to differentiate traffic.
The same will be true of the vast majority of
other campaign management tools. Advertisers
or service providers who make use of the search
query parameters in URLs for dynamic landing
pages, keyword generation, reporting etc. may
need to find an alternative approach. As an
example, keyword data can be used to customise
landing pages instead of the search query used.
So what’s next?
This may be a step on the road towards further
changes to Analytics tracking functionality, and
could possibly be the precursor to a two tier
model of Analytics access where a paid version
allows access to a greater level of keyword data.
Alternatively, it could just be a one-off change
to improve the security of Google search for its
users. Watch this space!
April’s big story in search marketing was the
move by Google to remove paid search query
data from Google Analytics, in a similar way to
its removal of organic search query data at the
end of 2011. For the SEO community, the organic
traffic change was a huge development as it
removed their main source of search query data,
but, for PPC advertisers, the impact should be
much less drastic. Below are the answers to some
of the questions you may have about the change.

3. Ipswich Headquarters
32 Fore Street
Ipswich IP4 1JU
T. +44 (0) 1473 213222
E. hello@crafted.co.uk
London Office
Clerkenwell Workshops
27/31 Clerkenwell Close
London EC1R 0AT
T. +44 (0) 20 3393 3852
www.crafted.co.uk