Site Search Metrics: Using Secondary Dimensions to Understand User Need

Theo Bennett - July 23, 2014

Site Search is one of the most common components of a site and is used by visitors that actually want to engage with you.  Let’s face it, if a visitor is using site search, they are interested in your product or service.  If they weren’t interested, would they have bothered to search?

By adding additional metrics to your site search reports, you can better understand your user – and where your navigation might be falling short.

Tip 1 : Adding “Refined Keyword” to Gain Insight into User Need

Go deeper in your search! To get more from site search, add a secondary dimension of “Refined Keyword” to your report data, this gives insight to situations where visitors are not finding quite what they are looking for and can be a cue to customize your results.

In this case, perhaps inclusion of international claim forms in the international travel results would be helpful.

Tip 2: Using Page-Level Insights to Determine User Need

This time use a secondary dimension on the search terms report to pull in the page on which the search occurred. This data can help you understand other content your users might be interested in seeing.

Finally, do you think site search users would make an interesting test audience for remarketing? I do!

Happy Analyzing!