Need a good laugh? Google Analytics has released several comical YouTube videos, showing realistic depictions of everyday user experiences online. From the often frustrating online check-out process, to the confusing search engine searches we have all experienced.

Watch Google Analytics In Real Life – Online Checkout https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3Sk7cOqB9Dk

Watch Google Analytics In Real Life – Site Search https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cbtf1oyNg-8

Watch Google Analytics In Real Life – Landing Page Optimization https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=N5WurXNec7E

These videos have created a lot of buzz in the past few months. Despite Google’s call to “Discover what your customers are looking for” at the end of the “Site Search” video, most existing Google Analytics users are familiar with the “not provided” keyword result that represents the majority of the keyword search data logged in Google Analytics. For those of you who are not familiar with the “not provided” phenomenon, the graphic below is a screenshot of a typical Google Analytics report showing what keywords users searched to find your website:

Above, you can see that the majority of keywords searched to find this user’s website are located under the “not provided” category. About one year ago, Google announced that it would encrypt any search data of users that were engaging in Google Search while logged into their Google account (Gmail, Google+, etc). Encrypted searches represent the “not provided” category shown in Google Analytics. When the announcement was made, the “not provided” category only represented a small percentage (2%-10%) of the total keyword results in Google Analytics; however, sites are now seeing 50%-60% of keyword data “not provided.”

It is interesting to see Google Analytics putting such an emphasis on its users’ ability to view what customers are looking for, with so much important data unavailable through their services.

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