Customer behavior offers a wealth of information, if you know where to look. Our own websites can tell us quite a bit about what’s happening and show opportunities to better serve our visitors. With the help of Google Analytics we can see how people are using our site and then make changes to help them find what they need easier. While GA offers countless ways to see how your site is being used, let’s look at your internal website search and the great insight it offers.
Don’t Play Hard To Get
Looking at site search shows what people want to see on your site. But it tells you far more.
Very often people search because they’re having trouble finding what they want using your standard navigation. Take a look at some of the most popular searches on your site and try to find them yourself using the navigation options. Even better, have someone that isn’t familiar with your site try to do the same. Were they easy to get to? Could they be simpler to find?
Testing the findability of frequently searched terms can help you spot a problem with your site, resolve it, and make your visitors happier.
Give Them More Of The Goods
In addition to indicating items that people are having problems finding, common searches can also show you things people want more of. Visitors may be looking, hoping, you have more great content on a particular topic. Those searches can be an indicator that you should feed their need for those items.
If you’re sure that finding these frequently searched items isn’t the reason for the search volume, you can begin to satisfy searchers by giving them more of the stuff they’re searching for. Are lots of people looking for “social media cheatsheet”? Maybe it’s time you give them several to choose from, covering a wider range of social media topics.
With the help of your internal site search, you can find items people are craving and provide them for your audience.
Just What They’re Searching For
Google Analytics data on our internal site searches offers lots of insight into what people are looking for. It gives us the opportunity to provide them with the things they’re want.
While it’s not enabled by default (here’s a guide to setting up site search in Google Analytics on many popular platforms), it only takes a minute and is well worth the effort.
Being more informed about how people use our websites and what they want is big when it comes to making our visitors happy. See what your visitors are searching for.
