Search analytics is the measurement of on-site query behaviour — what visitors searched, what they found, and what they did next. Six reports carry nearly all the value: top queries by volume, top by revenue, zero-result queries, low-click queries, refinement chains, and search versus non-search conversion.
| Report | What it tells you | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Top by volume | What demand exists | Merchandise the head |
| Top by revenue | What actually earns | Protect and tune those |
| Zero-result | Where the system fails | Synonyms, catalogue, content |
| Low click-through | Results were wrong | Ranking and relevance |
| Refinement chains | First page was insufficient | Facets and defaults |
| Search vs non-search CVR | What search is worth | Investment case |
The query log is unprompted demand data. It names products to stock, content to write, and the actual vocabulary customers use — which is frequently not the vocabulary the site uses. Read as market research rather than as a search report, it is usually the most valuable dataset a site owns and never opens.
Weekly: scan zero-result queries and fix the cheap ones. Monthly: review the revenue head and the refinement chains. Quarterly: audit merchandising rules for staleness and retire the ones pointing at dead products.