Nightmares do come true 😀
The Day for Most of the Search Marketers Hoped will never come, but apparently has arrived on 23rd September 2013. Google took the step and switched all search queries over an encrypted protocol (HTTPS). This simply means site owners will not be able to see keyword data that is coming from Google Organic.
SEJ received a Statement from Google’s Spokesmen “We added SSL encryption for our signed-in search users in 2011, as well as searches from the Chrome omnibox earlier this year,” a Google spokesperson told Search Engine Watch. “We’re now working to bring this extra protection to more users who are not signed in.”
Initially Google started search encryption in may 2010, after that Google Officially announced in 2011 after a year that they will encrypt those search queries which are made by Signed-in users (Google Account Signed-in only).
Google found this move fruitful and they decided to expand this on a global basis, Finally they took the step and rolled it out in September 2013.
In just few days Site owners discovered a drastic change in percentage of “Not Provided Data” It was increased about 50% or some say more than 50 percent.
Some guys are saying Google is Killing SEO Industry by doing this but Believe me that it’s not true. This Change has definitely created problems for those who are dealing with clients, as it would be difficult to make them understand the real deal. Just take your move and re-define your Strategies that must not be dependent on keywords 😉
By the way, I discovered that my Organic traffic is increased by 10% to 15% after this and Hummingbird update by google!
I will try to share my experience and recommendations to counter the problem or to build a non-keyword dependant strategy for search engine optimization. Kindly share your ideas in the comments.
