How to See Keywords in Google Analytics

Trying to see which organic keywords are sending traffic to your website in Google Analytics can be frustrating. You open your reports, ready to find high-performing terms, only to be met with a long list of "(not provided)." This article will show you exactly how to get that keyword data by connecting different tools and using the right reports inside Google Analytics 4.

Why Can't I See Most Keywords in Google Analytics?

If you used Google Analytics years ago, you might remember when organic keyword reports were full of useful data. But since 2011, Google has increasingly encrypted search data to protect user privacy. When someone is logged into a Google account and performs a search, the keyword they used is hidden from analytics tools.

This is why you see "(not provided)" listed as your top "keyword" in the standard acquisition reports. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature designed to secure the searcher's personal information. While this is good for privacy, it makes a marketer's job more difficult. Fortunately, Google gives us another tool that provides direct access to this search data: Google Search Console.

Solution: Link Google Search Console to Google Analytics 4

The best and most reliable way to unlock keyword data is by integrating Google Search Console (GSC) directly with your Google Analytics 4 property. Google Search Console is a free service that monitors your site's performance in Google search results, and it's the only official place to see the actual queries people use to find your site.

By connecting the two, you can view your GSC keyword data right inside your GA4 interface, allowing you to bridge the gap between search performance and user behavior.

Step-by-Step: How to Connect GSC and GA4

Before you start, make sure you have already set up a Google Search Console property for your website and have administrator-level access to both your GA4 and GSC accounts.

1. Sign in to Google Analytics 4.
2. Navigate to the Admin section by clicking the gear icon at the bottom-left corner of the screen.
3. In the Property column, find the "Product Links" section and click on Search Console Links.
4. Click the blue Link button in the top right.
5. A new window will appear. Click Choose accounts to select the Search Console property you want to link. If you're signed in with the right Google account, it should appear automatically.
6. Click Confirm, then Next.
7. Now, you need to select the web data stream from your GA4 property that will receive the Search Console data. Click Select and choose your website's stream.
8. Click Next, review your settings, and then click Submit.

That's it! You've successfully linked the two platforms. It usually takes 24-48 hours for the data to start appearing in your GA4 reports.

Finding Your New Keyword Reports in GA4

Once the integration is complete, GA4 automatically creates two new reports, but they won't show up in your main navigation menu by default. You need to "publish" them from the Library first.

1. In the left-hand navigation, click Reports.
2. Find and click on Library at the very bottom of the menu.
3. You'll see a section called "Collections." Look for a card titled Search Console.
4. Click the three vertical dots on the Search Console card and select Publish.

After you publish it, a new "Search Console" section will appear in your main reports navigation (usually under "Acquisition"). This section contains the two new keyword reports.

Analyzing Your New Keyword Data in GA4

Now for the good part: digging into the data. Inside your new "Search Console" section, you'll find two invaluable reports.

1. The "Queries" Report

This is where you'll spend most of your time. The Queries report shows the actual search terms people typed into Google to find your articles, products, or landing pages. For each query, you'll see four key metrics directly from Search Console:

• Google Organic Search Clicks: The number of times users clicked on your site's link from the search results for that specific query.
• Google Organic Search Impressions: The number of times your site's link appeared in the search results for that query.
• Google Organic Search Click-Through Rate (CTR): Clicks divided by impressions. This tells you the percentage of people who saw your link and decided to click it.
• Google Organic Search Average Position: The average ranking of your website for that query in Google's search results.

This report is perfect for identifying opportunities. For example, if you see a keyword with very high impressions but a low CTR, it means people are seeing your site but not clicking. This could be a sign that your page title or meta description isn't appealing enough, and optimizing it could lead to a quick traffic boost.

2. The "Google Organic Search Traffic" Report

This report flips the view. Instead of showing keywords, it shows your landing pages and pairs them with Search Console performance metrics (clicks, impressions, CTR, etc.). This helps you see which pages are your top organic performers at a glance.

You can then click the small blue "+" sign next to a primary dimension (like "Landing page") and add "Query" as a secondary dimension. This lets you see the specific keywords that are driving traffic to each of your top pages, all without leaving GA4.

Other Methods for Finding Keyword-Related Insights

While the Search Console integration is the main solution, there are other clever ways to get keyword context in Google Analytics.

1. Track Your Internal Site Search

Don't overlook the keywords your visitors are typing into your own website's search bar. This data is a goldmine because it reveals exactly what your existing audience is looking for in their own words.

Thankfully, GA4 makes this easy to set up with Enhanced Measurement. If it's enabled, GA4 automatically tracks site search activity.

• How to find the data: Navigate to Reports > Engagement > Events. Click on the view_search_results event name. In the report that loads, look for the card titled "search_term" to see a list of what visitors have searched for.

If popular search terms on your site don't have dedicated content, you just found some excellent keyword opportunities for new blog posts or landing pages.

2. Analyze Your Google Ads Paid Keywords

If you run Google Ads campaigns, you have another source of keyword data right at your fingertips. By linking your Google Ads account to GA4 (the process is similar to linking GSC), you can see which paid keywords are driving traffic and conversions.

• How to find the data: Navigate to Reports > Acquisition > Acquisition overview. Find the card titled Sessions by Session Google Ads campaign and click View Google Ads campaigns. From there, you can change the primary dimension to Session Google Ads keyword text to see performance by keyword.

This is extremely useful for SEO. Keywords that perform well and lead to conversions in your paid campaigns are often excellent targets for your organic content strategy.

Final Thoughts

While the days of seeing every single organic keyword directly in Google Analytics are over, you are far from powerless. By linking Google Search Console with GA4, you regain access to the critical search queries that bring visitors to your site and can analyze their impact directly within your analytics dashboard.

Bringing data from Google Analytics, Search Console, Google Ads, and other marketing platforms together to build a complete picture of your performance can be a real time-sink. We built Graphed to solve this by connecting all your data sources instantly. Instead of bouncing between platforms or navigating complex GA4 reports, you can just ask in plain language, "Show me my top 10 organic search queries by clicks from last month" and get a real-time answer in seconds.