No matter how your site search performs now, generally visitors who use search for finding products convert twice as much compared to visitors who use other site navigation to browse the product catalog -
according to Econsultancy. This is explained by the fact that searching visitors have a more specific shopping intent than visitors who are simply browsing: the information gathering stage is completed, and they want to view product details to satisfy other buying motivators such as price, availability and delivery terms. So, it makes it all worthwhile to learn about measuring site search effectiveness to see how well your search supports converting visitors to buyers, and later use this data to make decisions about improving site search.
In order to measure your site's search performance, use Google Analyitcs' dedicated "Reports" section. So what are the main search metrics you can track with Google Analytics?
- Monitor how often visitors use search on your website (Google Analytics divides visitors into the Visits Without Site Search and Visits With Site Search groups),
- Measure site search conversion and compare it to conversion through browsing product catalog,
- Evaluate the revenue and the average order value in the site search.
The collected search data will help you analyze users' behavior who
use the site search and understand if you need to invest in the search development, and how soon you will return your investments.