Sources of regular search results for Google Analytics

Before starting any ad campaign, it is important to understand that despite all its power, Universal Analytics by default can be somewhat “dumber” than you expect. If the search engine whose traffic you need to take into account is not added to the list of “Sources of regular search results”, then all users who came from it will be included in the “referral” channel.

Users who come to your site from a search engine that is included in the default search engine list are shown in reports as organic traffic.

The lack of proper traffic segmentation is harmful not only because the share of clicks on links and traffic from search engines will be distorted, but also because as a result, search queries from users of search engines that are not used by default will not be determined.

Traffic coming to your site through search results is separated in Google Analytics from traffic that comes from other traffic sources (for example, paid ads or other sites with links to your web pages). This segment is designated as organic traffic in your reports. For information about traffic types, see the section on traffic sources.

The Analytics service automatically detects the most popular search engines and performs attribution of traffic coming through them. By default, search engines are displayed in your reports as organic traffic.

In the list of search engines, you can add new sites or delete old ones, as well as change their order. This allows you to configure the definition of free search traffic, as well as the display of data in reports.

To do this, go to settings:

Admin -> Resource -> Tracking Code -> Sources of Regular Search Results -> Add Search engine

Next, you need to fill in the fields Domain Name contains and Request Parameters.

In the Domain name contains, you need to substitute the domain where the search engine is located, for example: yandex.ru

The request parameter is substituted for the parameter that transmits the request content, for example: text

Data collection

Organic traffic is assigned to the first search engine listed in the list, whose domain name and query parameter corresponds to the incoming session.

For example, if the search engine is in the first place yandex.ru, and on the second – images.yandex.ru (in both cases, the q request parameter is used), then all traffic from the images site.yandex.ru will be assigned to the site yandex.ru. To change the attribution settings, you can change the order of search engines in the list, thereby setting a new priority. In order to set the correct attribution of requests in the example above, use the images site.yandex.ru you can place it above the site yandex.ru.

You can also remove search engines from the list. In this case, traffic coming from them will be counted as click-through traffic.

If your own search engine intersects with any other one in this list, set a unique query parameter for it.

It is important to remember that the “Default Search engines” used in Analytics can change their query parameters or domain — Analytics does not always track such changes in a timely manner.

A list of search engines designed for the Russian speaking audience:

Yandex Search services:

Rambler Search Services: