How to Find Organic Search Terms in Google Analytics

Wondering where all your organic search term data went inside Google Analytics 4? You’re not alone. Gone are the days of seeing a full list of keywords people used to find your site directly within your main traffic reports. This article will show you exactly how to get that valuable keyword data back by linking Google Search Console and will walk you through how to use those insights to improve your SEO.

Why Are My Organic Search Terms "(not provided)" or "(not set)"?

Let's clear this up first. If you've been around digital marketing for a while, you might remember the infamous "(not provided)" that took over keyword reports in the old Universal Analytics. This is all thanks to a change Google made back in 2011 to protect user privacy. By switching searches to be secure (using HTTPS), they stopped passing individual query information directly into analytics tools.

Today, in Google Analytics 4, this same issue presents itself, often as "(not set)" in your default traffic reports when looking at organic keyword dimensions. GA4 knows someone came from Google search, but it doesn't know the exact keyword they used to get there. It seems like a huge data gap for marketers, but there's a straightforward fix.

The solution is to directly connect Google Analytics with another one of Google's free tools: Google Search Console.

Think of it this way:

• Google Analytics 4 is brilliant for understanding what users do on your website (which pages they visit, how long they stay, what actions they take).
• Google Search Console (GSC) is your direct line to understanding your site's performance in Google's search results (which keywords you rank for, your click-through rates, and your average positions).

By a simple, one-time integration, you can pull that crucial Search Console data directly into your GA4 property, putting all your insights under one roof.

Step 1: Link Google Search Console to Google Analytics 4

Getting your search term data into GA4 involves creating a simple link between the two platforms. Don't worry, this is a one-time setup that takes just a few minutes, requires no code, and is incredibly valuable.

Pre-flight Check: What You Need First

Before you begin, make sure you have two things:

1. A Google Analytics 4 Property: You must have GA4 set up for your website. This guide won't work with the old Universal Analytics.
2. Verified Access to Google Search Console: You need to have permissions, specifically "Owner" level, for the Google Search Console property that matches your website. This ensures you’re allowed to access the data.

With both of those ready, linking them is easy.

Linking Your Accounts: A Step-by-Step Guide

Follow these clicks to get your accounts connected:

1. Log in to your Google Analytics 4 account.
2. Click on the Admin icon (the gear icon) at the bottom-left of your screen.
3. In the ‘Property’ column, scroll down to the Product Links section and click on Search Console Links.
4. In the new screen, you’ll see an empty table if you haven't linked before. Click the blue Link button.
5. A pane will slide out from the right. Click Choose accounts. You will see a list of GSC properties that your Google account has "Owner" permissions for. Select the Search Console property that matches the GA4 property you're working in and click Confirm.
6. Click Next. On the "Select web stream" screen, choose the correct data stream for your website and click Next again.
7. Finally, you'll see a review screen. If everything looks correct (your GSC property and your Web Stream are right), click Submit.

That’s it! Your accounts are now linked. GA4 will begin importing data from Search Console, though it can take 24-48 hours for reports to populate fully.

Step 2: Find and Customize the Search Query Report in GA4

Completing the link doesn’t automatically make the new reports visible in your day-to-day reporting view. It makes them available, but you need to take one extra step to add them to your main navigation menu. It’s a slightly odd quirk of GSC, but easy to fix.

How to Add the Search Console Reports to Your Navigation

If you don't see a "Search Console" section in your left-hand menu under Reports, follow these steps:

1. From your main GA4 dashboard, click on Reports (the chart icon) in the left sidebar.
2. At the very bottom of the report category list, click on Library. This is where GA4 stores pre-built report collections that aren't yet published to your main view.
3. You should see a card for "Search Console" under the ‘Collections’ section. Click the three dots on this card and select Publish.

Now, when you go back to your main Reports tab, you’ll find a new section titled “Search Console” in your sidebar. Click on it, and you'll find two new reports: Queries and Google Organic Search Traffic. Jackpot!

Inside the 'Google Organic Search Queries' Report

Opening the Queries report is where you’ll find the keyword goldmine you’ve been looking for. This report pulls data directly from Search Console and displays it right within GA4.

Here are the key metrics you'll see:

• Google Organic Search Query: The actual keywords people typed into Google to find your site.
• Google Organic Clicks: The number of times users clicked on your website from the search results after using that query.
• Google Organic Impressions: The number of times your site appeared in the search results for that query, even if no one clicked.
• Google Organic Average Position: Your website's average ranking in the search results for that query. A ranking of 1-10 generally means you're on the first page.
• Google Organic Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of impressions that resulted in a click (Clicks ÷ Impressions).

It is important to remember that this is Search Console data being displayed in the GA4 interface. This means you can't layer GA4-native metrics like "Engaged Sessions" or "Conversions" directly onto this report. But having the query data integrated is still a huge win for workflow and analysis.

Step 3: A Crash Course In Interpreting Your Search Term Data For Better SEO

Simply finding your keywords is only half the battle. The real value comes from turning this data into action. Here are a few practical ways to analyze your search query report to drive more traffic.

Identify "Striking Distance" Keywords

One of the easiest SEO wins can be found by identifying your "striking distance" keywords. These are terms where you're already ranking on the second page of Google - typically in positions 11-20. You have a chance to jump up just a few spots and get substantially more traffic when you land on page one.

How to find them: In the Queries report, add a filter. Click ‘Add filter +’, select the 'Average position' metric, set the match type to 'is greater than' and enter '10'. This will then show pages on a search engine results page, past the first page of results.

• Once you've spotted these "striking distance opportunities", review if the search intent is met from what the searchers might truly want or expect. Does your page content meet or exceed other current pages rankings on page 1?
• If the page seems a bit 'out of step' with those on page 1, perhaps your content needs new sections dedicated to answering 'People also asked' and other semantically related topics, some fresh imagery, or just better copy to keep visitors engaged.
• Build a few high-quality internal links pointing to this page using relevant anchor text.

Analyze Keywords with High Impressions but Low Clicks

When you see a query with thousands of impressions but very few clicks (and thus a low CTR), it's a huge signal from Google. It tells you, "We think your page is relevant for this search, but it's not convincing people to click."

This is often a problem not with your page's content, but with your on-page SEO — specifically your page title tag and meta description.

How to find them: Sort your Queries report by 'Impressions' (high to low). Scan the 'Click-through rate' column and look for any valuable, relevant keywords with a CTR below 2-3%.

Actionable Steps:

• Rewrite Your Title Tag: Is it compelling? Does it include the keyword? Does it stand out from the other results on page one? Try to craft a title that sparks curiosity or clearly promises a solution.
• Improve Your Meta Description: While not a direct ranking factor, your meta description is your ad copy in the search results. Make it clear why the searcher should click your result.

Spot New Content Opportunities With Unfulfilled Intent

Your query report is also a brainstorm waiting to happen. You will probably rank for terms that aren't the primary topic of your content. Sometimes, a search term might be out of step or directly conflicting with searches that show on page 1 rankings above you. This indicates unfulfilled search intent, while you are also 'sort of' close, so a different page on the same search could rank very well.

How to find opportunities: Scan through your list of search terms sorted by both clicks and impressions and look for anomalies in search intent. Ask yourself, "Would an average search user have to do more research or refine their search on the topic?" This may mean you've answered some of the topic or search, but a different post or guide answering all the relevant factors would perform significantly better.

For example, you might have a ranking for 'social media management tools'. Let's say your title is "List of Best Social Media Management Tools and Costs." While you have provided part of fulfilling the need or want of the query through creating a list with costs, you failed to consider that the topic of 'free'. You may find from the 'related searches' section of Google that "free social media management tools" and "free trial" are very valuable subtopics, if not stand-alone valuable terms of their own.

• Create 'deeper' content or expand a current post on the topic.
• Consider creating separate content on stand-alone themes of searchers.

Final Thoughts

Seeing "(not set)" in your reports can be frustrating, but now you know the complete workaround. By connecting your Google Search Console to GA4, you easily unlock the crucial keyword data you need to drive informed SEO strategies, from finding low-hanging fruit to diagnosing content gaps.

Performing this kind of analysis manually across different platforms can quickly become a weekly ritual of exporting CSVs and digging through reports. At our company, we streamlined this process by using Graphed to connect Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Ads, and all our other marketing tools in one place. We can then simply ask, “Create a dashboard showing my top queries by impressions from GSC next to my top organic landing pages from GA4.” It turns hours of manual reporting into a single sentence, helping us stay focused on insights instead of data wrangling.