How are the metrics for internal site search calculated? Google Analytics uses the following formulas to calculate the metrics used in internal site search reports: •Visits with Search = The number of visits that used your site’s search function at least once. •Percentage of visits that used internal search = Visits with Search/Total Visits •Total Unique Searches = The total number of times that your site search was used. This excludes multiple searches on the same keyword during the same visit. Results Page Views/Search = Page Views of search result pages/Total Unique Searches •Search Exits = The number of searches a visitor made immediately before leaving the site. •Percentage of Search Exits = Search Exits/Visits with Search •Search Refinements = The number of times that a visitor searched again immediately after performing a search. •Percentage Search Refinements = The percentage of searches that resulted in a search refinement. Calculated as Search Refinements/Page Views of search result pages. Time after Search = The average amount of time that visitors spend on your site after performing a search. This is calculated as Sum of all “search_duration” across all searches/(“search_transitions” + 1) •Search Depth = The average number of pages that visitors viewed after performing a search. This is calculated as Sum of all “search_depth” across all searches/(“search_transitions” + 1) Sample Calculations This section describes a visitor’s experience with your website’s search engine and explains how Google Analytics calculates the resulting data.
The visitor progresses through three different pages when interacting with your website’s search engine: •Search Page – Page on site where the visitor enters terms for a web search •Search Results Page – Results page that is returned on a search engine query •Results Page View – The page viewed after a click on a results page Assuming that your website received three visits from visitors that navigate as described: •Visit 1: (time between “camera” term search page and “black camera” term search page is 30 seconds and “black camera” search to site exit is 60 seconds) Search Term Page (term “camera”) >
Results Page > view Results Page View > view Results Page View > Search Term Page (term “black camera”) > Search Results Page > view Results Page View > view Results Page View > view Results Page View > Site exit •Visit 2 : (time between “computer” term search page to site exit is 15 seconds) Search Page (term “computer”) > Results Page > Site exit •Visit 3: No Search The following metrics can now be calculated: •% Visits used internal search = 2 Visitor that used site search (Visit 1 & Visit 2) /3 Total Visitors = 66. % •Visits with Search = 2 (Visit 1 & Visit 2) •Total Unique Searches = 3 (“camera”, “black camera”, “computer”) •Results Page Views/Search = (2 + 3)/3 = 1. 67 •Search Exits = 1 (Visit 2) •% Search Exits = 1 (Visit 2)/2 (Visit 1 & Visit 2) = 50% •Refinement = 1 (Visit 1 – “black camera”) •% Refinement = 1 (Visit 1 – “black camera”)/3 = 33. 3% •Time after Search = (30 seconds + 60 seconds + 15 seconds)/(1 + 1) [visit 1 & visit 2] = 52. 5 sec •Search Depth = (2 [“camera”] + 3 [“black camera”] + 0 [“computer”])/(1 [Visit 1] + 1 [Visit 2]) = 2. 5
