New Google Analytics Jargon

If you haven’t noticed, Google has also recently upgraded its Analytics, and I’ve listed many of the new features here. In this article I’d like to discuss two relatively new phrases that are showing up within people’s Google Analytics’ accounts: “not set” and “not provided.” These terms, while similar, have two different meanings.

What does “not set” mean in Google Analytics?

“Not set” appears in the traffic sources section of Google Analytics and it means that you the user did not enter your website through a keyword; they came from a  referral site. Previously, this designation meant that your are using Google Adwords, but Google is unable to find the matching click from the Adwords account that is currently linked to your Analytics account. In order to check this you’ll want to:

1) Login to Adwords

2) Select the Reporting tab and choose “Google Analytics”

3) Select “I already have a Google Anlytics account”

For thorough instructions on linking your Analytics and Adwords accounts.

What does “not provided” mean in Google Analytics?

“Not provided,” like “not set,” appears in the traffic sources section but it has an entirely different meaning. “Not provided” means that the person who visited your website was logged into Google at the time of their search or their visit. Therefore, because of Google’s new privacy policy, you cannot track any of the keywords that they used to find your website. This can be very frustrating for marketing agencies trying to track results from their efforts.

So is there any way around the “not provided” results in Analytics? No, as long as people are logged into Google you won’t be able to see which keywords brought them to your website. However, you can track their average time on the site, bounce rate, and conversion rate, to name a few.

If you have any questions about the jargon in Google Analytics, or using Google Analytics in general, then contact TRBO ADvance, or give us a call at 877-673-7096 x2.

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