Understanding the “why” of visitor behavior is one of the most frustrating aspects of online marketing. Fortunately, you have a potentially untapped tool that will allow you to get inside the heads of your site visitors and determine what they are looking for, what they expect to find on your site, and whether you are serving those needs.
You can do this by putting a site search box on your website and tracking the queries made and what visitors do with the results. When the customer enters words into a search box on your site, she is telling you in exact words for what it is she is searching. It is hard to find a better source of keyword information. Not only do you confirm the keywords the customer uses to search for your products, but you may also learn terms that customers equate with your business. These might be ideas for future products you could offer or new ways to describe existing products.
The site search function also provides users another option for navigating your site. For many people, using a search function is their preferred method for navigation.
What is Site Search?
Site search a tool that allows a visitor to search within the contents of a site for specific topics. If I am visiting your site that sells digital cameras, I might enter the model number into the search box or, if I’ve not yet settled on a specific model, I might type in characteristics of the camera I want. The site search tool would then deliver up pages from your site that are relevant to the keywords searched.
What if you don’t have a site search tool?
The good news is you don’t have to build a site search application. There are a number of free, open source site search tools in a variety of languages. There are plugins for popular site publishing tools. Many blogs come with site search built into the theme. There are also fee-based third party site search tools that allow for extensive customization.
One simple cheap site search option is Google Site Search (www.google.com/sitesearch/). Google offers up a free version (if you run Google ads) or a paid version (without ads), so don’t let cost keep you from getting a site function on your site.
How to leverage your site’s search box to read minds
Whichever site search tool you chose, be sure that you have a way of capturing the searched keywords so you can review them easily. The easiest way to accomplish this is to integrate the search results into your analytics. If the site search keywords are part of your analytics information, you are much more likely to review the material than if you just archived them on your server and forgot them.
Insights from searched terms
Once you have your site search integrated into your analytics, you can use your analytics to capture search queries and analyze reports. Here are a few insights you might glean:
- Understand what people expect from the site.
- Get ideas for new article topics or product areas for expansion.
- Identify navigation problems.
- Find missed opportunities that cause people to leave the site.
Setting up Site Search tracking in Google Analytics
Most analytics packages make integration easy. For example, with Google Analytics, there is a simple two step process: enable site search and tell Google how to capture the search info.
There are detailed instructions online, but essentially you set up the site search solution of your choice, then edit your Google Analytics profile to enable site search and enter the query parameter into the appropriate box. Once set up, you can then log on to your Google Analytics account and look under the Content section of the Left Nav for Site Search. It has never been so easy to get keyword data direct from the consumer.
What do I do with this info now that it’s set up?
Google Analytics provides several reports to help you interpret Google site search data. The following reports help the webmaster better understand the visitor’s behavior:
Search Term. These are the actual search terms visitors are using on your site. Mine this information for new article topics, product ideas, navigation issues , etc.
Total Unique Searches tells you how popular is that particular phrase. Note that this is a popularity count for that exact search phrase, so consider using the filter tool to look for larger themes across multiple queries.
Results Pageviews/Search. From the results returned, how many different pages were viewed? A large number here may mean that results that at first blush appeared relevant, did not answer the visitor’s question, or that there are many relevant pages on the site and the visitor viewed several. The Time After Search metric (see below) will help to determine which is the case.
% Search Exits. How many folks exited the site after looking at the search results page (as the last page viewed)? A large number here indicates that the site missed the mark on returning relevant results. Popular searches with a large search exit percentage is a prime indicator for the need to develop new content.
% Search Refinements. What percentage of searchers conducted another search after searching this term? Again, this may represent a missed opportunity and indicate the need to develop more content.
Time After Search. How long did a visitor remain on the site after searching? Longer engagements indicate that the site is capturing the visitor’s interest — generally a good sign for a site.
Search Depth. How many pages of search results did visitors review? If you have a large or complex site, many pages of search results might be returned for a given query.
The quest to better understand your target audience begins with keywords. Using site search and tying it into your analytics package allows the webmaster to see the exact terms the searcher uses to look for items on the site. This unique insight into the mind of the visitor will enable you to better understand visitor behavior and improve the user experience.
Christine Churchill is the President of KeyRelevance.com, a full service Dallas search engine marketing company that specializes in helping businesses succeed online. Christine and her experienced team of online marketers provide a holistic approach to marketing: increasing a site’s visibility online, improving the user experience on the site, and maximizing the site’s conversion potential.
RESOURCE: www.wilsonweb.com
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