Mastering Search Analytics

Chapter 6. Site Search Analytics

Site search can provide deeper insights into what your customers are looking for.

Site search can be a form of navigation for people on your site. It may actually be a very common form of navigation. Sites such as Amazon put a great deal of emphasis on their search bar by placing it front and center. Understanding who is using your site search and where, why, and how can provide critical insight into both your SEO and paid search programs, in addition to improving your site’s conversion rates. Site search is also unique in that you have control over the results it returns. Site search comes in many different flavors, from free options from Google to paid options from Microsoft to custom-built options such as Amazon’s search. Whichever option you use, what is happening with your site search will be a key analytic to track and measure, allowing you to improve your overall site findability and the user experience.

By the end of this chapter, you should have some ideas of what you can track through site search, as well as how to implement some of these tracking programs. For our examples, we will use Google site search as our assumed site search engine, though I will also call out some ideas that may help improve more sophisticated engines if you have the option. If you can afford it, a fully customizable site search is better than a free noncustomizable site search. Before we begin, I should also point out that while I will cover some elements of what ...