Google Analytics and Site Search

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cindynotbrady
Posts: 157
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 3:49 pm
Location: Provo, Utah

Google Analytics and Site Search

Unread post by cindynotbrady »

I'm sure this will be fixed in future versions of Help and Manual, but the Google Analytics help has changed slightly (References > Project Configuration Settings > Publishing Options > WebHelp). I am recording this for others who might have struggled finding this.

After doing the first things mentioned in this H&M topic (sign up or log on to your Google Analytics account), click the Admin link near the top. GA returns three sections: Account | Property | View (see below)
GAadmin.png
Click View Settings.

Scroll to Site Search Settings.

Turn Site Search Tracking to ON.

In the Query parameter field, type "q,zoom_query".

Click <Save>. (See below.)
sitesearch.png
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Alexander Halser
EC-Software Support
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Re: Google Analytics and Site Search

Unread post by Alexander Halser »

Hi Cindy,

Thank you for the information! However, I am not sure if I fully understand the changes you made.

The default tracking parameter in GA is "/q=". That's what Google tracks as organic keyword search. In GA, however, you will find only a few organic keyword searches, like those from Bing or Yahoo. Google itself doesn't deliver the search query anymore.

The GA script in Help & Manual's Webhelp does an explicit call to GA, when someone uses the internal Webhelp search function. The tracking code delivered to GA is "/search?q=keyword".

The parameter "zoom_query" that you refer to, is internally used when the dynamic search page in Webhelp is re-created with the search results. But this change is not tracked directly by GA. Instead, the navigation script sends a modified tracking code directly to GA.

Script helpman_navigation.js, line 101-103:

Code: Select all

      case "search":
		pageTracker._trackPageview(data);  //data = "/search?q=keyword"
        break;
So, in which way does changing the query parameter in GA improve the statistics? What are you tracking with this change?
Alexander Halser
Senior Software Architect, EC Software GmbH
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cindynotbrady
Posts: 157
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 3:49 pm
Location: Provo, Utah

Re: Google Analytics and Site Search

Unread post by cindynotbrady »

The only change I made was how to get to the site within GA. The screen shots in the H&M help were outdated. The GA looks differently then when those screen examples were taken, and I couldn't figure out where I was supposed to put the query data. Other than that, the information is identical.

Here is the link to the outdated information:

http://www.helpandmanual.com/help/index ... lytics.htm
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