How To Analyze Organic Search Traffic In GA4?

Are you allocating resources to search engine optimization but can’t find a coherent way to analyze the organic search traffic it drives?

Knowing how to analyze the organic search results in Google Analytics 4 enables you to quantify how your SEO efforts are paying off. 

We will explain that in detail in our blog below. 

What is Organic Search Traffic in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)?

It refers to the traffic on your website when someone searches for a term or query on a search engine and clicks on your website’s link in the search results. 

Organic Search Traffic is the fruit of your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and is considered free (unlike paid traffic) and therefore valuable. 

Since this segment of traffic comes from users searching for something related to a product or service you offer, their chances of conversion are higher. 

Therefore, understanding organic traffic, the keywords your site appears for, and the user behavior once they land on your site is critical to your business. 

How to Analyze Organic Search Traffic in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)? 

Now that we understand the “why” of organic traffic, it is time to understand the analysis part. 

You can find and analyze organic search traffic in two ways. 

We discuss both in detail below. 

Track Organic Traffic in Google Analytics Reports

GA4 has a few detailed Reports to offer insights about the performance of your website and its products or services. 

To view organic traffic in GA4, try the following steps.

• Go to Google Analytics 4 > Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition.
• For an overview of the organic search traffic, scroll down to the table and switch the Session default channel group from the drop-down to Session source/medium.
  • Focus on the ones with the term organic as the medium to look for organic search traffic from different sources.
    
• To find pages receiving organic search traffic, go to Google Analytics 4 > Reports > Engagement > Pages and screens.
• Then scroll down, click the plus sign next to the Page path and screen class, click Traffic source, and choose medium from the menu.
• Now type organic in the search bar to view stats related to organic search.
• Find the landing pages receiving organic search traffic by going to the Landing pages tab of the Engagement report. 
  • Scroll down, click the plus sign next to the Landing page, choose Session medium, and then type organic in the search bar.

• To find the search terms for which visitors organically arrive on your website. 
  • Go to Traffic acquisition, scroll down to the table, and switch to Session source/medium. 
  • Add Landing page + query string and type organic in the search bar.

• To find the devices through which organic search traffic is coming, go to Traffic Acquisition,  scroll down to the table, add the Device category dimension, and search organic in the search bar. 
  

Create an Organic Search Traffic Report in Explorations

One can look for organic search traffic by going to different reports, adding dimensions, and applying filters. 

Or they can create a customized organic search traffic report in Explorations. 

Create A Blank Report 

Follow the steps below to create the report. 

• Go to Google Analytics 4 > Explore, click Blank.

• Go to the Variables tab on the left, rename it Organic Search Traffic Report, and set the date range for the Last 30 days.

Adjust Settings

• Go to Segments in the Variables tab, click the plus sign, and select User Segment.

• Rename it as Organic Search.
• Click Add new condition, search First user medium, and select it.
  
• The Add filter button appears next to the Add New condition; click to open the Conditions tab, select contains, select organic from the drop-down, and click Apply.

• Click the Save and Apply button at the top right.
  
• Next, Import the following dimensions, one by one, by clicking the plus sign next to Dimensions in the Variables tab.
  
  • First user source/medium
  • Landing page + query string
  • Event name
  • Item name
  • Device Category
  • Browser
  • Country

• Now go to Metrics and add the following metrics one by one.
  
  • Views
  • Total users
  • Sessions
  • Engaged sessions
  • Engagement rate
  • Event Count
  • Conversions
  • Total revenue
  • User conversion rate
  • Session conversion rate
  • Event value
  • Items viewed
  • Item quantity
  • Add to carts
  • Ecommerce purchases
  • Item revenue

Create Overview Organic Search Traffic Report in GA4

• Add the First user source/medium dimensions to the Rows and the following Metrics to the Canvas.
  • Views
  • Total users
  • Sessions
  • Engaged sessions
  • Engagement rate
  • Event count
  • Conversions
  • Total revenue
• Now, rename the newly created report Overview.
  
• Now scroll down to Cell Type in the Settings tab and select Heat Map from the drop-down menu. 

Create Detail Reports in the Organic Search Traffic Report in GA4

• To create the Landing Page report, click the Overview report and select Duplicate.

• Rename the new report Landing Pages.
• Go, to Rows and remove the First user source/dimension. Then double-click on the Landing page + query string dimension. You have your Landing Pages report ready.
  
• To create the Devices report, Duplicate the Landing Pages report, rename it Devices, remove the previous dimension, and add Device Category. 
• Duplicate the Devices report and rename it Browsers, then remove the previous dimension and add the Browser dimension. 
  
• Create the Countries report by duplicating the Browsers report, renaming it Countries, and changing the dimensions to Country. Add the Metric Total users.
  
• To create a Conversions report, click the plus sign, create a new Free form, and name it Conversions.
• Go to Segments and double-click Organic search (it won't show on the canvas yet).
• Then double-click the Dimension Event name to add it to the canvas.
• One by one, add the following Metrics to the Canvas.
  • Conversions
  • Total users
  • User conversion rate
  • Session conversion rate
  • Event value
• Now scroll down to Cell Type and select Heat Map.

• To create the Ecommerce report, create a Free form and name it Ecommerce.
• Double-click to add the Organic Search Segment to the report.
• Next, add the Item name Dimension. Then, add the following Metrics to the canvas.
  • Item views
  • Item quantity
  • Add to carts
  • Ecommerce purchases
  • Item revenue
• Scroll down and select the Cell Type as Heat Map.

Create Flow Charts in the Organic Search Traffic Report in GA4

• Create User Flow by clicking the plus sign next to the previous report and selecting Path Exploration.
• Rename it User Flow.
• Select the Segment Organic Search, add the Dimension Device Category, and remove the Event count dimension.
• Add the Metric Total Users. 
• Go to the canvas, click the Event name drop-down menu below Step+1, and select Page title and screen name.

• To view a breakdown of the Users concerning devices, hover the cursor over one of the page titles.

• To further assess the journey users took after their first arrival on the site, click on one of the blue bars below Step+1 to find the next stages of the User Journey. 

• You can further break down by clicking the blue bars in Step+3.

• To create a Funnel report, add a Path Exploration report next to the User Flow report and rename it Funnel. 
• Click the Start Over button at the top right. 

• Below the Ending Point button, click Drop or Select node and choose Event Name as the ending point. 

• In the opening tab, search and select a conversion event, which is Purchase in our example. 

• A Funnel report will appear.
• Next, go to Step-1 and click the drop-down menu to select the Page title and screen name. 

• Click a blue bar in Step-1 to generate step-2, step-3, and so on. 

• Apply the Organic Search Segment and the Device category dimension to the Funnel.

• Remove the Event Count metric and replace it with Total users.

Whooo!

Great job.

You can come back to the report, check out all the report cards, and choose to see them in tabular form for visual analysis of your website’s organic search traffic in GA4. 

Conclusion

The blog discussed how to analyze organic search traffic in GA4. 

You could do so by going to the Acquisition Report and Engagement Report and applying dimensions and filters to find about Organic search results.

Or you could create a custom report in Explorations to find all your Organic search traffic-related metrics of interest in one place. 

You can begin with a Blank report in Explorations, add the relevant dimensions and metrics to the canvas, and then use them to create reports.

In our blog, we discuss creating an Overview report, Landing page report, Devices report, Browsers report, Countries report, and E-commerce report. 

You will also need pathway reports such as the User Journey and Funnel reports.

Congratulations, you have a fully functional organic search results report that you can return to for a time-to-time analysis. 

Like what you read? Learn more about analytics at our blog here.