Why it's Important to Have a Search Bar On Your Site – And How to Leverage It

About 30% of site visitors will use the search bar, so search term data provides valuable insight into what your users are interested in.

Most Agility-powered websites use Algolia. 

With APIs that give pertinent content in milliseconds, Algolia search facilitates the development of next-generation apps.

Algolia aids in your consumers' content discovery, while Agility makes it simple for you to manage and publish content.

1. Find new keywords

Users are likely typing similar queries into your site's search bar as they are into Google and other search engines. It's also very likely that while mining through these queries, you'll find new keywords that you'll want to target.

These keywords can be used in your organic SEO or paid search strategies to help target the right – and most responsive – audience.

2. Boost conversion rates by optimizing landing pages

To continue attracting visitors to your site, you can also use internal search query data to optimize landing pages and boost your conversion rate.

What you don't want to see in your analytics is the use of the search bar on landing pages (whether the purpose of the landing page is for the user to convert). If a site visitor uses the search bar on a landing page, it means that their expectations were not met and they didn't find what they hoped to.

You can do two main things when your search bar is being used on landing pages. Firstly, in terms of paid search, you can edit the ad copy that entices a user to click through to a landing page to more accurately describe what they'll be presented with. Secondly, you can create a more relevant and informative landing page to improve retention and conversions, mainly if you see a trend in queries.

3. Improve the user experience

Internal search queries provide insight into how users search for your existing content, showing you what content they expect or hope to find on your site. By digging into your analytics, you can learn what site visitors are searching for and whether they are finding it.

In Google Analytics, the % Search Exits metric indicates how many users clicked away from your site from a search results page instead of clicking on any of the links. The higher the percentage, the less satisfied users are with that page.

You should also check out the Results Pageviews/Search metric in your analytics. This shows how often users viewed a search results page after searching for something. Typically, if Results Pageviews/Search is higher than 2, people must dig deeper than they should for relevant results.

Less than stellar results for both metrics can mean that your user experience can be improved – either your site search needs to be fine-tuned to provide more relevant results or your site is missing the content visitors want.