What is Google Analytics On-Site Search?
On-site search terms are reports that show what words your visitors searched for on the site and which pages they visited with those words.
How to Enable Google Analytics Site Search?
In order to use on-site search terms in Google Analytics accounts, setup is required.
Step 1: Open Admin settings,
Select your Analytics property and click on the “admin” section,
Set the site search tracking section to “ on ”. After business owner database enabling the search, a field will appear where you can enter query parameters. You should add the parameter that your on-site search system works to the “ Query parameter ” section. I gave the example of “ search ” here. This can also be just “s”, “ p ” or “ search ” on your site . You can clearly see this parameter in the URL section when searching on the site.
Sample on-site search URL structure:
Step 3: Saving All Settings
After adding the parameters and making sure that all sections are set properly, we press the save button and save our settings.
That’s all! We can now start seeing our on-site search queries in the Behaviour > Site Search > Search Terms report in the Analytics property.
Search Terms Report
The on-site search terms reports are so valuable to us that our visitors actually tell us clearly what they want to search for when they enter the site. You can identify whether the content or products you provide meet the needs of your users and if you have a possible content gap, thanks to this report. You can see the number of unique searches for each term. In this report, you can see what users are really searching for in which date range and all other metrics;
You can also determine which search terms users use after encountering an error by placing a search button on 404 error pages. If your visitors are looking for a product that is not yet available on your site or is likely to be available in the future, this sends you a serious signal. With this data you receive from users, you can immediately create content on this topic and fill the gap. In SEO, this situation can also return to you as organic traffic because you take quick action. When you click on the word you want to analyze from the search terms, a report like the one below is created. In this report, you can analyze which pages users visit using the relevant search term.
You can also take the analysis a little further by breaking this breakdown down into channels. For example, you can distinguish which search terms users coming from Google Ads and users coming from organic results use on the site.
If the Search Exits metric is too high, it may mean that users are not getting the search results they want on those pages. Avg. Search Depth is another metric that you can use to measure how many additional pages visitors view after searching.
Controlling Conversions
You can also learn the most valuable words by looking at the conversion contribution of search terms and the total revenue they bring. After selecting the E-commerce metric from the Explorer section, the table containing the search terms will change to include information about the conversion data. You can divide the segment breakdown into organic, paid or referral and analyze it in more detail.
