A detailed explanation of why secured search isn't that big of a deal. Many people believe that Google has neutered SEO by obscuring keyword referrers. I believe there is so much other data out there about users that allow us to optimize against implicit intent like other channels.

1. WHY I DON’T CARE
ABOUT (NOT PROVIDED)
There’s way too much data out there for us to be crying over it.
@iPullRank

2. DOWNLOAD THIS DECK
http://iacq.co/dgaf-not-provided
@iPullRank

3. What’s this not provided thing all about?
HISTORY OF KEYWORD DATA
@iPullRank

4. Keyword referrers
Iacquire.com
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.
@ipullrank

5. In October 2011 Google Announced a move to secure Search
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
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.
@ipullrank

6. 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.
@iPullRank

7. 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

8. Googlers were incentivized to encourage more logins into Google+
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
It’s part of people’s job description to keep users logged in to Google. http://searchengineland.com/google-is-hiringsomeone-to-find-ways-to-make-you-want-to-search-while-signed-in-144523
@ipullrank

9. 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

10. September 2013 Google moved to secure Search for all users
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
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
@ipullrank

11. THIS IS MY REACTION.
@iPullRank

12. WHAT ABOUT BRANDED VS.
UNBRANDED?
iacquire.com
@iPullRank

13. @iPullRank

14. WHAT ABOUT IDENTIFYING
LONG TAIL SEARCHES?
iacquire.com
@iPullRank

15. @iPullRank

16. WHAT ABOUT DYNAMIC
TARGETING BASED ON
KEYWORDS?
iacquire.com
@iPullRank

17. @iPullRank

18. NONE OF THAT CHANGES MY
ABILITY TO KNOW
WHETHER SEARCH MADE US
MONEY AND WHY
iacquire.com
@iPullRank

19. Roll with it.
WHY I DON’T CARE
@iPullRank

20. 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

21. …And we have looked to understand the people behind the search
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
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.
@ipullrank

22. Our keyword research methods are persona based
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
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
@ipullrank

23. our content strategy is kpi-driven
Iacquire.com
Certain content types work better for meeting certain business objectives. We’re already creating the right things to meet
what makes sense in the given stage of the consumer decision journey.
@ipullrank

24. Our Messaging resonates with the audience and need state
Awareness Version
Loyalty Version
Consideration Version
Iacquire.com
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.
@ipullrank

25. We’ve already developed methods for measuring people
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
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
@ipullrank

26. Leverage user profiles for measuring segments
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
When sites have user profiles we can leverage them in context with analytics to understand which segments are
performing best and why.
@ipullrank

27. I wrote about this on moz
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
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
@ipullrank

28. We can already get plenty of data on the user
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
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
@ipullrank

29. We can already do awesome stuff.
Predictive Modeling
Dynamic Targeting
Keyword Arbitrage
Iacquire.com
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.
@ipullrank

30. IN OTHER WORDS… WE’RE
ALREADY DOING MARKETING.
And that’s what google is forcing everyone to do now.
iacquire.com
@iPullRank

31. New Data means new ways to measure users
GOOGLE GIVETH MORE THAN IT
TAKETH AWAY
@iPullRank

32. Cohorts in Google Analytics
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
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
@ipullrank

33. Affinity segments
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
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
@ipullrank

34. Demographic data and affinity segments in google analytics!!!
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
This is brand new and is slowly rolling out to all sites. Google Analytics now has the ability to track demographic data
(Age, Gender, etc) and Affinity Segment type. http://online-behavior.com/analytics/demographics
@ipullrank

35. Cohorts based on demographics & affinity segment
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
Now you can track and analyze personas directly in Google Analytics WITHOUT any other data sources.
@ipullrank

36. 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 fulfill a need and resonate 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.
@iPullRank

37. The view of the earth from the moon!
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO RIGHT NOW
@iPullRank

38. Understand and segment your audience
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
Build personas and use the affinity segments as your base and then set up filters and segments in GA so you can track
accordingly. Demographic options are still rolling out, enable them once you get it.
@ipullrank

39. Measure Organic search as a channel
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
Organic Search is one channel of many. You should be reporting it as such, but in context of audience and conversion.
Optimizations should be made based on landing page performance.
@ipullrank

40. Track your rankings and search volumes
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
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
@ipullrank

41. Track internal search
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
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.
@ipullrank

42. Leverage google webmaster tools data
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
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.
@ipullrank

43. Understand your landing page conversion rates from Organic Search
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
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.
@ipullrank

44. Optimize against implicit intent and cohorts
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
Iacquire.com
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
@ipullrank

45. THIS DECK JUST
NEEDED ANOTHER
LOUIS CK PICTURE.
iacquire.com
@iPullRank

46. wwww.iacquire.com
Thank you / Q&A
Michael King
Director of Inbound Marketing
@iPullRank
Download this deck
http://iacq.co/dgaf-not-provided