How to Track Keywords in Google Analytics

Trying to find out which keywords are driving traffic to your website feels like it should be simple, but it's one of the most common points of confusion in Google Analytics. The good news is that the data is there - you just need to know where to look and how to connect the right tools. This article will show you exactly how to find both your organic and paid search keywords so you can get a clear picture of what’s working.

Why Is Keyword Data So Important?

Before we jump into the "how," let's quickly cover the "why." Your keyword data is a direct line into the minds of your audience. It tells you the exact language they use when they're looking for solutions that you provide. Analyzing this information helps you:

• Understand User Intent: Are people searching for informational content ("how to fix a leaky faucet") or transactional content ("plumbers near me")? Knowing this helps you create content that meets their immediate needs.
• Optimize Your Pages: When you know which keywords lead users to a specific page, you can better optimize that page's titles, descriptions, and content to match their search intent and improve its ranking.
• Find New Content Ideas: Discovering long-tail keywords or questions that people are searching for can inspire your next blog post, FAQ page, or product feature.
• Evaluate SEO & PPC Performance: Clicks and impressions are great, but are those keywords actually leading to conversions and revenue? Tracking keywords is essential for measuring the real ROI of your search marketing efforts.

The Problem: The Rise of "(not provided)" Keywords

If you used Google's older analytics platform, Universal Analytics, you are probably familiar with the term "(not provided)". Years ago, Google shifted to secure browsing (HTTPS) to protect user privacy. A side effect of this change was the encryption of search query data, which meant Google Analytics could no longer see the specific organic keywords people used to find your site.

This practice has continued in Google Analytics 4. So, if you're looking for a report inside GA4 that lists all your organic keywords out-of-the-box, you simply won't find it. But don't worry, there is an official, Google-approved solution that pipes all of this essential data directly into your GA4 account: connecting Google Search Console.

How to Track Organic Keywords by Linking Google Search Console

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool from Google designed to help website owners monitor their site's health and performance in Google Search. It's where you find invaluable SEO data, including the exact search queries people use to find your site. By linking it to GA4, you get that data right alongside your website behavior metrics.

Step 1: Link Google Search Console to GA4

Before you start, make sure you have Administrator permissions for your Google Analytics 4 property and that you're a verified owner of the Google Search Console property for your website.

1. Log into your GA4 account and click on the Admin gear icon in the bottom-left corner.
2. In the Property column, scroll down to the Product Links section and click on Search Console Links.
3. Click the blue Link button.
4. A new window will appear. Click Choose accounts and select the Search Console property you want to link. (You'll only see properties where you are a verified owner.) Click Confirm.
5. Click Next. Now you need to select the web stream for your site. Click Select, choose your website's data stream, and click Next again.
6. Review all the information to ensure it's correct, and then click Submit. You'll see a "Link created" confirmation message.

That's it! It may take up to 48 hours for data to start populating in your GA4 reports.

Step 2: Add Search Console Reports to Your Library

Once linked, GA4 automatically adds a new collection of Search Console reports. However, they aren't added to your left-hand navigation by default. You have to publish them manually.

1. In the left menu of GA4, click on Reports.
2. At the bottom of the reports menu, click on Library.
3. You will see a card for a "Search Console" collection in the Collections section. Click the three vertical dots on this card and select Publish.

Once you do this, you will see a new "Search Console" section appear in your main reports navigation, containing two new reports: Queries and Google Organic Search Traffic.

Step 3: Analyze the "Queries" Report

Navigate to Reports > Search Console > Queries. This report is your new best friend for understanding organic keyword performance.

Here you'll find a list of all the search queries that brought people to your website from Google, alongside these key metrics:

• Google Organic Search Query: The exact keyword or phrase someone typed into Google.
• Google Organic Search Clicks: The total number of times someone clicked on your site's link from the search results for that query.
• Google Organic Search Impressions: The number of times your site appeared in the search results for that query, whether it was clicked or not.
• Google Organic Search Average Position: Your website’s average ranking in the search results for that query. A lower number is better.
• Google Organic Search Click-Through Rate: The percentage of impressions that resulted in a click (Clicks / Impressions).

Now you can start uncovering valuable insights. Sort your report using these metrics to answer critical questions:

• Find "Striking Distance" Keywords: Filter for queries with a high number of impressions but a low click-through rate and an average position between 8 and 20. These are your "striking distance" keywords. You're already ranking for them, but a little on-page SEO or an improved page title could push them onto the first page and significantly increase your traffic.
• Identify Content Gaps: Are you ranking for queries that you don't have dedicated content for? This is a clear signal from your audience about what they want to see from you and a fantastic source for new content ideas.
• Evaluate Page-to-Query Alignment: You won't see it in this default report, but you can add Landing page as a secondary dimension (click the blue "+" button next to the primary dimension). This allows you to see if the content on your landing pages actually matches the search queries bringing people there.

How to Track Paid Search Keywords (Google Ads)

If you're running Google Ads campaigns, you obviously want to know which keywords are effective and which are just wasting your budget. Just as we linked GSC for organic data, we need to link Google Ads for paid data.

Step 1: Link Google Ads to GA4

As before, you'll need Admin permissions on GA4 and your Google Ads account.

1. Go to the GA4 Admin panel.
2. Under the Property column, click on Google Ads Links.
3. Click the blue Link button, then click Choose Google Ads accounts.
4. Select your Google Ads account and click Confirm.
5. On the next screen, it’s highly recommended to leave both Enable Personalized Advertising and Enable Auto-Tagging turned on. Auto-tagging is critical, as it automatically adds tracking parameters to your ad URLs so GA4 can properly attribute traffic and conversions.
6. Click Next, review your settings, and click Submit.

Step 2: Dive into the Paid Search Keyword Reports

After your accounts are linked, you can analyze your paid keyword data. Note that GA4 splits this across a few views.

1. Navigate to Reports > Acquisition > User acquisition or Traffic acquisition.
2. In the table, find the primary dimension drop-down menu (usually set to something like Session default channel group).
3. Click the drop-down, search for "keyword," and select Session Google Ads keyword text.

The report will now update to show a list of the paid keywords that brought users to your site, along with engagement and conversion metrics directly from GA4. You can see how many users each keyword brought in, how long they stayed, and most importantly, how many conversions each keyword generated.

You can then analyze which keywords have the best ROI by sorting by Conversions and Total revenue (if you have e-commerce tracking set up). This makes it easy to spot overperforming keywords you might want to increase bids on, as well as underperforming ones that are good candidates to be paused.

Final Thoughts

While you can't get a simple, built-in report for organic keywords directly in GA4, integrating Google Search Console unlocks all that crucial data. This connection lets you see the specific queries driving your SEO traffic so you can make informed decisions. For paid search, a similar link to Google Ads brings your PPC keyword performance right alongside your website analytics.

We know that constantly connecting tools and digging through different report interfaces can feel like a full-time job. That’s why we created Graphed . We connect directly to your Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Ads, and other marketing sources in one click. Instead of piecing together reports, you can just ask a question in plain English like, "What organic keywords drove the most conversions last month?" and instantly get a live, automated dashboard showing you the answer.