Hate “Not Provided”? It May Be A Good Thing!

Are we really talking about Not Provided again?  That’s such old news!  It’s also not anything new to say that SEOs don’t really like the idea of Google not letting us see our keywords.  This has been quite the discussion since Google’s switch to secure search.  Because of this switch, it’s forced us to approach keyword research quite differently.

Searchmetrics’ founder, Marcus Tober has an interesting user-centered mentality about the Not Provided issue, a mentality that seems to go against the grain of your common SEO thought process.  Tober feels marketers should not only find a direct solution to Not Provided by finding keyword data, but should let it become a catalyst for reassessing our sites’ relationship to keywords.

Tober says that Not Provided isn’t even an issue.  Even with all the questions asking why Google would enact secure, it might be because targeting a single specific keyword on a page isn’t resulting in the best possible user experience.  It pretty much boils down to stopping keyword stuffing.

If you can obliterate being able to target specific keywords from query to conversion, it forces people to focus more on a better content strategy.  Stephan Spencer has had written an article on this topic, and in it, he’s also been given the opportunity to interview Tober about Not Provided and how it could help SEOs and marketers do better at providing content for the user.

Check out Stephan’s article on Search Engine Land by following the link below!

Search Engine Land: Do You Hate “Not Provided”? Not So Fast… It May Be a Blessing In Disguise!