Understanding User Behavior by Google Ads Keywords
Analyzing how users interact with your website based on the Google Ads keywords that brought them there is crucial for optimizing your advertising spend and improving campaign performance. This analysis helps you understand which keywords are not just driving traffic, but actually engaging users in meaningful ways. We'll show you how to create this insightful report in Google Analytics 4.Basic Report Structure
- Report Type: Free Form Exploration
- Primary Dimension: Session Google Ads Query
- Secondary Dimensions: User Source, User Medium
- Metrics: Total Users, Average Engagement Time, Engaged Sessions
- Visualization: Table format with user metrics by keyword
Steps to Create the Report
- Open GA4 and navigate to Explore section
- Click the Blank template to start a new exploration
- Under the Dimensions tab, click the + button and search for Session Google Ads Query, User Source, and User Medium, check the checkboxes and click Import
- Under the Metrics tab, click the + button and search for Total Users, Average Engagement Time, and Engaged Sessions, check the checkboxes and click Import
- Drag Session Google Ads Query to the Rows section
- Drag User Source and User Medium as secondary dimensions to the Rows section
- Drag all three metrics to the Values section
- Add a filter to include only Session Source containing "google" and Session Medium containing "cpc"
- Set your desired date range in the report settings
Important Dimensions and Metrics
- Session Google Ads Query: Shows the actual search terms users entered that triggered your ads
- User Source: Identifies where users originated from
- User Medium: Shows the advertising or marketing medium
- Total Users: Number of unique users per keyword
- Average Engagement Time: How long users from each keyword engage with your site
- Engaged Sessions: Number of sessions that lasted longer than 10 seconds
Actionable Insights
- Identify keywords with high engagement time but low conversion rates for content optimization opportunities
- Find keywords bringing in engaged users to allocate more budget to these terms
- Spot keywords with high user counts but low engagement for potential negative keyword additions
- Use the data to adjust bid strategies based on user engagement metrics
Answers Similar Questions
- How to track Google Ads keyword performance in GA4
- GA4 user analysis by search terms
- Google Analytics 4 keyword user behavior report
- Track users by Google Ads search queries GA4
- GA4 paid search keyword analysis setup
