Quick answer: Google Analytics shows “(not provided)” because Google encrypts searches and no longer passes the search term to websites. You cannot get that data back inside the keyword report, but you can get close. Link Search Console to Analytics and use the Search Analytics data for queries, look at organic landing pages to infer intent, use your AdWords search terms report, and track what people type into your own site search. Together these give a reliable picture of what people search for to find you.
If you open the organic keywords report in Google Analytics, the top line is almost certainly “(not provided)”, often covering the large majority of your organic visits. For anyone who remembers when every keyword was there to see, it can feel as if keyword research has lost its foundation. It has not. The data just lives in different places now, and it needs a bit more work to read.
Why keywords show as (not provided)
When someone clicks a search result, their browser normally tells the destination site where they came from, in a field called the referrer. For years, Google’s referrer included the search query, which is how Analytics knew the keyword.
Starting in 2011, Google began moving searches to HTTPS, first for signed-in users and later for almost everyone. Encrypted searches strip the query from the referrer before it reaches your site. Analytics still knows the visit came from Google organic search, but it has no keyword to record, so it files the visit under “(not provided)”. By late 2013, nearly all Google organic searches were encrypted.
A few points worth knowing:
- This is a Google search change, not an Analytics bug. No setting, filter or plugin can restore the original keyword.
- Paid search is different. Advertisers still see search terms for ads in AdWords, which is part of why the change caused so much debate.
- Other search engines vary. Bing and Yahoo traffic can still pass some keywords, but the volume is usually small for most sites, and secure search is spreading across engines too.
Where to find your organic search terms now
1. Search Console Search Analytics
The best replacement is Google Search Console. Its Search Analytics report shows the queries your site appeared for, with clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position. You can filter by page, country, device and date, and compare periods.
Limits to keep in mind:
- It covers only the last 90 days, so export the data regularly if you want a longer history.
- Some low-volume queries are left out, so totals will not match Analytics exactly.
- It shows Google search only.
We cover the report in detail in our guide to the Search Analytics report.
2. Search Console data inside Google Analytics
Once you link Search Console to Google Analytics, Analytics shows search data under Acquisition. The landing pages view is the useful one: it puts Google impressions, clicks and position alongside on-site behaviour such as bounce rate and goal completions for the same pages. That lets you see not just which pages attract searchers, but which ones turn them into enquiries.
3. Organic landing pages
Even without query data, the landing page tells you a lot. If a visitor arrives from Google organic search on your page about emergency boiler repairs, the search was almost certainly about that topic. In Analytics:
- Go to Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages.
- Add a segment for Organic Traffic.
- Sort by sessions, then look at goal completions or ecommerce revenue for each page.
A custom report with landing page as the main dimension and medium set to organic gives you a reusable version. When you see a page gaining traffic, check Search Analytics filtered to that page to see the queries behind it.
4. AdWords search terms
If you run AdWords, the search terms report shows the exact queries that triggered your ads and led to clicks. It is not organic data, but it reflects how real people search for what you sell. It is often the best source of fresh, specific long-tail phrases. With AdWords and Analytics linked, the paid and organic report in AdWords also shows queries where you appear in both paid and organic results, as long as Search Console is linked to the AdWords account.
5. Your own site search
What people type into your site’s search box is first-party data that Google cannot hide. Turn on Site Search tracking in Analytics under Admin > View Settings, and enter the query parameter your site uses (for WordPress, that is s). The Site Search reports then list the terms visitors look for, which pages they search from, and whether they leave afterwards. Terms with a lot of searches and quick exits often point to missing content.
6. Keyword tools for volume and ideas
The AdWords Keyword Planner, along with tools such as Moz, SEMrush and Ahrefs, estimate search volume and show the keywords a page ranks for based on their own data. These are estimates, not your actual traffic, but they help fill gaps and spot topics you do not cover yet.
Putting the pieces together
No single source replaces the old keyword report. The practical approach is to combine them:
- Start with landing pages to see which pages bring organic visits and conversions.
- Use Search Analytics filtered by page to find the main queries for each of those pages.
- Check position and click-through rate. Queries where you rank on page one but get few clicks may need better titles and descriptions. Queries in positions 8 to 20 may need content improvements.
- Add AdWords and site search terms to find phrases you are not targeting yet.
- Keep a record. Export Search Analytics data each month into a spreadsheet so you can compare over longer periods than 90 days.
This page-first view is arguably more useful than the old keyword report. It ties searches to the content that ranks and to the business results that content produces.
Things that do not work
You will still find tips online that promise to “recover” not provided keywords. Treat them with care.
- Filters that rewrite (not provided) as the landing page URL. These are harmless and can make reports easier to scan, but they only relabel the landing page data you already have. They do not reveal keywords. Apply them in a separate view, never your only view.
- Estimating keyword share. Some tools take the small share of visible keywords and scale them up to estimate the rest. The sample is too small and too unrepresentative for this to be reliable.
- Third-party scripts claiming to capture queries. The query is removed before the visit reaches your server. No script can recover it.
Use the data to make decisions
The point of keyword data was never the list itself. It was knowing what people want so you can give it to them. With query data from Search Console and behaviour data from Analytics, you can still answer the questions that matter:
- Which topics bring visitors who convert?
- Which pages rank but do not get clicked?
- Which questions do visitors ask that the site does not answer?
Answering those regularly is where most of the gains in organic search come from, especially for long-tail keywords that individually bring few visits but together add up to a large share of traffic.
FAQ
Can I see organic keywords in Google Analytics at all?
Only a small share, from searches where the term was still passed. Linking Search Console adds query data to Analytics, but it is reported separately from sessions.
Why do Search Console clicks not match Analytics sessions?
They measure different things. Search Console counts clicks from Google results, while Analytics counts sessions where the tracking code ran. Blocked scripts, redirects and time zone differences all cause gaps.
Is (not provided) going away?
There is no sign of it. Encrypted search is now standard, so it is best to treat Search Console as the main source of query data.
Know what is bringing people in
Good reporting turns scattered data into clear decisions about content and marketing. If you would like help setting up reports that show which searches and pages drive enquiries, see how we help businesses know what’s working.
