Using Site Search in Google Analytics

One of Google Analytics long-requested features is the ability to analyze the data people enter into the “site search” box. This new feature allows you to determine all kinds of data about your customers, allowing you to get into their heads, figure out what they are looking for, and better provide exactly what they want to find. Here are a few of the main reasons why you should have site search in Google Analytics.

Determine What Visitors Are Looking For

Let’s assume you run a website about web design. You cover a wide range of topics, yet it is very difficult to determine what people who land on your site are looking for. With the Site Search analytics, however, you can figure it out quickly. For example, if you track your searches, you might determine that most people are interested in how to do special effects, and you can then gear your site more to that angle.

Determine What People Search For a Second Time

If someone searches your site and doesn’t find what they are looking for, determining what they search for next can tell you more about your potential customer.

If someone types in a search about how to prepare drop shadow special effects and doesn’t find it, that can tell you that they are just interested in special effects. If the second term they search for is on design tips for corporate websites, then you might determine that your visitor is interested in special effects that are specifically geared to making a site look professional.

Determine What Is Returning No Results

When someone searches for content on your website, how often do they turn up no results? What queries are people searching for that get no results? If you can identify common searches people enter where you are showing no results, that is a simple and easy way to improve the customer experience. You know what people are looking for and not finding. Create that content and your user satisfaction will go up right away.

Determine What Group of People Are Most Likely to Search

Is your pay-per-click traffic more likely to do a site search than your SEO traffic? What about returning visitors versus new visitors? This can tell you a lot about what kind of people are coming to your website. For example, if you are getting a lot of site searches, that probably means people are seeing your site as an encyclopedia-type website.

On the other hand, if you have a low search rate from all but one segment of traffic, that could mean that that one segment of traffic is having trouble finding what they are looking for. After all, most people don’t see your website as an encyclopedia, but one group in particular is trying to use the search box to find what they are looking for.

These are some of the many benefits of the site search in Google Analytics. It is not the most important metric of all, but it is absolutely a metric to which you should be paying attention.

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Author: jm

Joan Mullally has been doing business online for more than 20 years and is a pioneer in the fields of online publishing, marketing, and ecommerce. She is the author of more than 200 guides and courses designed to help beginner and intermediate marketers make the most of the opportunities the Internet offers for running a successful business. A student and later teacher trainee of Frank McCourt’s, she has always appreciated the power of the word, and has used her knowledge for successful SEO and PPC campaigns, and powerful marketing copy. One computer science class at NYU was enough to spark her fascination with all things digital. In her spare time, she works with adult literacy, animal fostering and rescue, and teaching computer skills to women.