Understanding a site search query string

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Don’t do it now, but look at the screenshot I took while searching on Amazon. It briefly explains the anatomy of a search query string.

Example search query parameters
Visitors can enter a search term in a site search box. When they hit Enter or click a button that says “Search”, the URL in the address bar of the browser changes.
The URL can contain two kinds of parameters chinese thailand data that are important for Google Analytics 4.
Let’s have a closer look at them.

GA4 Search Term Query Parameter
The search term query parameter shows someone is searching on a site. This is usually: “q”, “s”, “search”, “query”, or ”keyword”.

But as the example of the search I did on Amazon shows, it can be as well “k”, or anything else.

You really need to check this before diving into GA4.

Alina, who is a member of our data-driven community, always does. On one customer’s site, she noticed the URL did not contain any of the default search term query parameters.

No default ga4 search query parameter
Keep her advice in mind, it can save you sleepless nights: