Google Analytics™ Third Edition

Chapter 18. Site Search

One of Google Analytics' "hidden treasures" that can help uncover some amazing insights into the pulse of your web site's traffic is the Site Search section of reports, which is located within the Content section of your "Favorite" profile. Site Search can collect the actual search queries performed on your own web site's search function, including the number of refinements your visitors need to make, the page that they perform their searches on, and the category that the search query falls under, just to name a few.

This section of reports is a direct pipeline of data between you the web-site owner and your web site's visitors. One of the very few ways in which your site's visitors can communicate with your web site is by what they type into your search tool.

Configuring Your Profile(s)

In order to begin tracking your web site's search function with Google Analytics, you need to perform a few administrative tasks first. In most situations, this should be a piece of cake for your administrator (and if that means you, then you'll definitely be able to appreciate how easy this is going to be!).

Note

Depending on your search function's vendor, there may be additional steps that need to be performed, such as ensuring that your web site is configured for subdomain or cross-domain tracking, or using the Google Analytics Tracking Code to dynamically populate the search query if it does not appear in the URL. Check with your site search vendor to ensure that it can accommodate ...