Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
On Google Analytics under search queries, the most popular query is "(not set)", how do I find out what this is?
-
I am trying to discover what users are searching for and what keywords drive traffic to our site.
-
If you wish to see performance of KWs or pags you can see few tricks from today post in Moz:
https://moz.com/blog/single-best-seo-tip-for-improved-web-traffic
Yes - SearchConsole is heavy involved in process. -
Thanks so much!
-
Thank you
-
Not set
The ‘keyword’ (not set) simply identifies traffic that doesn’t arrive via a particular keyword and hence may not come via any search at all. This includes traffic coming from email, referral sites, or even things like Google Images. The latter might be confusing, but it helps to know that visitors coming from Google Images and Google Maps are classified under referrals with the source google.com, not organic search. Because keywords are automatically set for search traffic, the (not set) keyword will never appear in your organic Search reports, so it is likely something you won’t have to worry about. Don’t consider this one in light of keyword performance!
Source: http://www.gravitatedesign.com/blog/not-set-not-provided-mean-google-analytics/
Not set
The ‘keyword’ (not set) simply identifies traffic that doesn’t arrive via a particular keyword and hence may not come via any search at all. This includes traffic coming from email, referral sites, or even things like Google Images. The latter might be confusing, but it helps to know that visitors coming from Google Images and Google Maps are classified under referrals with the source google.com, not organic search. Because keywords are automatically set for search traffic, the (not set) keyword will never appear in your organic Search reports, so it is likely something you won’t have to worry about. Don’t consider this one in light of keyword performance!
Source: http://www.whereoware.com/blog/not-set-vs-not-provided/2013/05/
This is in Acquisition, Campaigns, Organic keywords. If you're talking Acquisition, SearchEngineOptimization, Queries - this works different, see text in below.
So - in general Analytics can't figure keyword there. But this is not how GA should work. You should tracks your KWs in Google SearchConsole. There is "SearchTraffic" -> "Search Analytics" with all impressions, clicks, ctr and positions. There you can make report for web, image or videos. You can split traffic by countries, pages, devices (desktop, tablet, mobile) and much more. Here is link:
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/search-analytics?hl=en
but there you must add your site and verify it. -
Hi,
If you see (not set), that means that the traffic coming to your site did not have keyword. It might be from an odd search engine that doesn’t pass that info, or perhaps you’ve manually tagged something as Organic and not supplied a keyword.
are you running any Google Adwords campaign or you are talking about organic search?
I'm sharing an article where you will find all the possible condition for appearing (not set) in analytics
http://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2015/06/25/11-places-google-analytics-not-set/
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2820717?hl=en
Hope this helps.
Thankls
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
U.S. Vs. Canada search volume
How does Moz differentiate Canadian data vs. U.S. data? I'm particularly interested in search volume. Why is there such a big difference in volume (much less in Canada)? Is this due to population differences or are there other factors? For example, see the monthly volume for the keyword "Business resilience": U.S. = 360
Keyword Research | | BDOCanada
Canada = 6 This seems like a huge difference!0 -
Has the keyword planner search volume metric gone crazy?
I use the search volume found in keyword planner to score and weight my keywords in a similar way as Rand showed us in this WBF. This week I've found that in many cases suddenly the singular and plural version of the keyword have the same search volume. This seems crazy to me as singular and plural is not the same, the intent is different but more importantly they behave very differently from each other when looking at their track record in Adwords (impressions, clicks, conversions, CTR, CVR etc...all different). For example, here's a screenshot of 4 keywords (singular and plural versions of 2 phrases) with search volume captured a couple of months ago. Now here's another screenshot of the same keywords taken from Keyword planner today. Any ideas why this would be happening? Does it makes sense to you? It just seems buggy to me. Thanks!
Keyword Research | | E_F0 -
How can a keyword has very low search volume (<10) and high competition?
Sometimes I notice in Google keyword tool that a keyword has very low search volume (<10) and high competition? Why would anyone go for a keyword with very less search volume ?? (note: If Checked in Google keywords tool with Exact match) Though I understand this tool doesn't always have exact data but still any explanation to that question?
Keyword Research | | Personnel_Concept0 -
Where can I find data on growth in individual keyword search terms, over tiime?
I am operating in an emerging market, and want to understand the underlying growth in the relevant Google keyword search terms. I can use this as a proxy for market growth. I have checked out Google Trends, but this confusingly shows peak search volumes (out of 100) not search volumes. Are there any better tools out there? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Keyword Research | | JDog980 -
Help finding some decent keywords
Anyone care to help a SEO Newbie find a couple of key words that would be easier to rank for for my website that provides kayak fishing information? mysite: yakangler.com The key words that I've identified are as follows: best kayak
Keyword Research | | mr_w
fishing from a kayak
fishing kayak review
fishing kayaks
kayak and fishing
kayak fishing
kayak for fishing
kayak reviews
kayak rigging
kayak weight limit
kayaks fishing
kayaks for fishing But I'm worried I'm missing the point, I don't see hardly any traffic from most of these. I've really tried to rank for "kayak fishing" but seem to be totally lost in the Google Panda abyss. Any advice on a different word or strategy would be greatly appreciated!0 -
Search Volume vs. CTR
Is it better to optimize based on search volume or click through rate? For example: If a keyword has a CTR of 19% and only 3,000 monthly searches, while another keyword that is relevant to that page has a CTR of 0.7% and 20,000 monthly searches, which keyword should that page be optimized for for better natural results and the bottom line?
Keyword Research | | Motivators0 -
Is there a way to search 400+ urls for a specific keyword?
I have a large list of URL's that need to be checked for a specific keyword. I've been doing them one at a time and it's painful. Is there a web based tool out there that can search many different URL's at once?
Keyword Research | | billnet0