How to Use Google Analytics 4 to Find Keywords

Have you heard about the massive migration to Google Analytics 4? The one that had digital marketers crying into their keyboards and reaching for the whisky? It's time to dry those tears and get strategic. Because despite the initial learning curve, GA4 packs a serious punch when it comes to keyword intelligence – if you know where to look.

I'm not suggesting Google's made it easy for us (my eye-twitch has only just subsided). But what if I told you that strategic data diving in GA4 could actually make your keyword strategy more magnetic, more targeted, and a whole lot more profitable?

Intrigued? Let's dive into how to use Google Analytics 4 to uncover the keywords that are actually driving traffic, conversions, and creating proper relationships with your audience.

The cold, hard truth about keywords in GA4

In Google Analytics 4, keywords are hidden due to privacy measures. When users search on Google, the keywords are replaced with "(not provided)" to protect their privacy. This encryption is done through the HTTPS protocol which secures data transfers and communication, automatically replacing keywords information with "not provided" in your reports. Frustrating? Absolutely. The end of keyword tracking as we know it? Not exactly.

This privacy shift means we need to get more creative with our approach to keyword discovery. Think of it like detective work – the clues are still there, just not served on the silver platter we were used to.

The good news? GA4's event-based model actually offers some distinct advantages when it comes to understanding user behavior based on search intent rather than just keywords. And with a few strategic integrations, we can still get remarkably comprehensive keyword data.

Digital marketing guru Avinash Kaushik famously said, "Analyzing data in aggregate is a crime." This is especially true when it comes to keyword analysis – we need to segment and drill down to extract meaningful insights, not just look at overall traffic numbers. GA4 gives us the tools to do exactly that, even without direct keyword visibility.

Integration #1: Connect Google Search Console to GA4 

Your best option for seeing which keywords are driving traffic to your website is connecting Google Search Console to GA4. This partnership gives you access to the organic search terms people use to find your site, along with crucial metrics like impressions, clicks, click-through rates, and average position.

Here's how to set it up:

1. Verify your site in Google Search Console if you haven't already

2. Link your Google Search Console account to your GA4 property:

• Go to Admin > Product Links > Search Console

• Click "Link" and follow the prompts

• Select the appropriate Search Console property

After you've linked GSC to GA4, you'll need to publish the Search Console reports, which are unpublished by default. To do so, go to the Library and publish the GSC reports.

The real magic happens when you visit Acquisition > Search Console > Queries report. This shows you:

• Organic search keywords driving traffic to your site

• Clicks for each keyword

• Impressions in search results

• Click-through rate

• Average position in search results

Be patient though, because the statistics only become available 48 hours after collection.

Advanced GSC-GA4 integration techniques for 2025

There are some important limitations to keep in mind with this integration:

1. Limited Data Retention - Both Search Console and GA4 keep data for only 16 months maximum, so implement a regular data export routine if you need historical analysis.
   
   

2. Limited Dimensions - The landing page, device, and country are the only dimensions available for your drill-downs in the integrated reports.
   
   

3. Data Availability Timeline - Search Console data becomes available in GA4 based on when you create your web stream and complete site verification. If these were done at different times, your data history will start from the later of the two dates.
   
   

4. Property Connection Limits - A web data stream can only be linked to a single Search Console property.
   
   

💡 Even if you're not ready to dive into analysis right away, set up both your GA4 web stream and Search Console verification as early as possible. This means you'll have historical data available when you need it, rather than waiting weeks or months to build up enough keyword data for meaningful analysis.

Integration #2: Google ads keywords

If you're running paid search campaigns, you've got another powerful keyword source at your fingertips.

To view the keywords you're bidding on in Google Ads, navigate to "Reports" and then "Overview" under the Acquisition section. Change the dimension to "Session Google Ads Keyword Text" to see the keywords associated with each campaign.

This gives you a direct line of sight into:

• Which paid keywords are driving traffic

• How paid keywords perform compared to organic ones

• Opportunities to optimise your ad spend based on keyword performance

But what if you're running non-Google paid campaigns? For tracking other paid ads keywords, use UTM parameters. These custom tracking codes let you see exactly which keywords are driving traffic from your non-Google paid campaigns.

Explorations: Get creative with landing page analysis

Don't overlook the power of GA4's Exploration reports for keyword detective work. While they won't directly show you search terms, they can reveal valuable patterns when combined with other data.

Try creating a custom exploration that examines:

• Landing pages by traffic source (organic vs. paid)

• Page path levels to identify topic clusters

• Event counts (like purchases or sign-ups) alongside landing pages

This approach helps you connect the dots between content topics and user actions. If a specific landing page is converting well from organic search, you can infer that the keywords it's targeting are valuable to your business.

Advanced landing page reverse-engineering technique

Here's a powerful technique used by top SEO agencies to reverse-engineer keyword performance from landing page data:

1. Identify your top-performing organic landing pages in GA4's Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition report

2. Extract the URL slugs of these pages (the part after your domain name)

3. Create a custom exploration with:

• Dimension: Landing Page

• Filter: Source/Medium equals "google/organic"

• Metrics: Sessions, Conversion Rate, Revenue (if applicable)

4. Cross-reference these URLs with Search Console data to see which keywords are driving traffic to each page

5. Group keywords by topic cluster for each high-performing page

6. Analyse the search intent patterns across your best-converting pages

This reverse-engineering approach helps you identify which keyword-to-content matches are driving real business results, not just traffic. You can then apply these patterns to future content development.

The real search term gold mine: your website's internal search

If your website has an internal search feature, GA4's enhanced measurement can track what people are searching for on your site. This is keyword intelligence gold for two reasons:

1. It reveals exactly what users are looking for in their own words

2. It highlights content gaps where users can't find what they need

To set this up:

1. Make sure Enhanced Measurement is enabled in your data stream

2. Verify that site search tracking is turned on

3. Wait 24 hours for data collection

The search event in GA4 enhanced measurement is called "view_search_results". You can find it in Reports > Engagement > Events by looking for this event.

For a more detailed view:

1. Create a custom report in Explorations

2. Add "Event name" as a dimension and filter for "view_search_results"

3. Add "Search term" as another dimension

4. Include metrics like "Event count" and "Users"

5. Save this report for regular monitoring

The search terms people use on your site often closely match what they're searching for in Google. It's like having a direct line to your audience's search intent!

Building a site search insights dashboard in GA4

Want to level up your internal search analysis? Here's how to create a comprehensive site search dashboard:

1. Go to Explore section in GA4 and select "Free form" exploration

2. Add dimensions and metrics:

• Dimensions: Add "Search term" and "Page" (to see which pages searches happen on)

• Metrics: Include "Event count," "Users," "Sessions," and "Conversions" (if set up)

3. Create a visualisation showing top search terms by volume

4. Add a second tab focusing on search terms with zero results

5. Add a third tab showing search terms that led to conversions

6. Save this exploration for ongoing reference

This dashboard helps you identify:

• Which products/topics users are most interested in

• Where your site content is failing to meet user needs

• Which search queries have the highest conversion potential

For even deeper analysis, create segments comparing users who search on your site versus those who don't. Often, site searchers convert at a higher rate than non-searchers, but if your search functionality is poor, you might see the opposite pattern.

Third-party tools for keyword intelligence

While GA4 + Search Console gives you solid keyword data, serious SEO strategists should consider complementary tools:

SEMrush provides keyword research and competitive analysis with an "Organic Research" feature that allows you to analyse the organic keywords driving traffic to your website.

Ahrefs Webmaster Tools offers detailed keyword insights that can complement your GA4 data.

These tools can help fill in gaps by:

• Estimating search volumes for keywords you're targeting

• Identifying keyword opportunities you're missing

• Analysing competitors' keyword strategies

• Tracking ranking positions over time

Creating a unified keyword intelligence system

The real power comes from integrating GA4 data with third-party SEO tools. Here's how to build a comprehensive keyword intelligence system:

1. Export keyword data from Search Console (via GA4 or directly)

2. Import this data into a spreadsheet or BI tool (like Google Data Studio/Looker Studio)

3. Enrich with third-party data:

• Add search volume from SEMrush or Ahrefs

• Add keyword difficulty scores

• Add SERP feature information (whether keywords trigger featured snippets, etc.)

• Add competitor ranking data

4. Create calculated fields for opportunity scoring:

• Conversion potential (based on GA4 conversion data by landing page)

• Traffic potential (search volume × potential CTR based on position)

Turning keyword data into strategic action

Finding keywords is only half the battle. Here's how to turn that data into actionable strategy:

1. Identify high-performing keywords

Discovering which keywords are effectively drawing traffic to your site helps you optimise your content to target these terms. Look for keywords with:

• High click-through rates

• Strong conversion metrics

• Good average positions

• Reasonable competition levels

These are your money keywords – double down on them!

2. Spot missed opportunities

Identify relevant keywords with high impressions but low CTR, suggesting your page might not be perfectly aligned with the search intent.

These keywords represent low-hanging fruit. Often, you just need to:

• Refresh your meta titles and descriptions

• Update content to better address user intent

• Improve page experience to reduce bounce rates

3. Discover content gaps

When you get keyword reports in Google Analytics 4, pay close attention to your traffic patterns. If you're driving a lot of traffic from a keyword but those same people who arrive at your website are not converting, this means you may want to work a little more on your product pages, or be more specific in your copy.

Look for:

• Keywords where competitors outrank you

• Related terms you're not targeting at all

• Questions users are searching for that you haven't answered

Advanced content gap analysis technique

Create a GA4 exploration that combines Search Console data with behavioral metrics:

1. Build a custom exploration using Search Console keywords as the primary dimension

2. Add engagement metrics like bounce rate, time on page, and pages per session

3. Add conversion metrics relevant to your business

4. Create a calculated metric dividing conversions by clicks for each keyword

5. Sort by impressions (descending) to see high-visibility terms

6. Apply conditional formatting to highlight terms with:

• High impressions + low CTR (title/meta description issues)

• High CTR + high bounce rate (content mismatch with intent)

• High engagement + low conversion (content that interests but doesn't convert)

This multi-dimensional analysis helps you pinpoint exactly where in the funnel each keyword is failing to perform, allowing for precise optimisation.

4. Refine your SEO strategy

Use the average position metric to understand how well you compete in search rankings for your targeted keywords and adjust your SEO tactics accordingly.

This might involve:

• Creating cornerstone content for key topics

• Building internal linking structures to boost important pages

• Developing a backlink strategy for competitive terms

5. Implement search intent segmentation

One of the most powerful advanced techniques in GA4 is creating segments based on search intent categories. Here's how:

1. Create four custom segments in GA4 Explorations:
   
   
   

• Informational intent (keywords containing "how," "what," "guide," etc.)

• Navigational intent (branded terms, product names)

• Commercial intent (terms with "best," "vs," "top," "compare")

• Transactional intent (keywords with "buy," "price," "discount," etc.)

2. Apply these segments to your conversion reports to see which types of search intent convert best for your business
   
   

3. Align your content strategy with the intent patterns that drive results
   
   

For example, you might discover that informational intent keywords bring volume but rarely convert, while commercial comparison terms bring fewer visits but convert 5x better. This insight allows you to prioritise your content calendar accordingly.

The future of keywords in GA4: What's coming in 2025

As we move deeper into 2025, GA4 continues to evolve. Google Analytics 4 in 2025 offers powerful tools to help businesses stay competitive in an increasingly data-driven world.

Some key developments to watch:

GA4 in 2025 takes machine learning to new heights by offering predictive analytics with expanded capabilities for predicting user behavior and automated trend detection with improved algorithms to identify trends in real time.

Generated insights are now shown directly within detailed reports in Google Analytics to give you clear, concise summaries explaining fluctuations in your data in plain language.

These AI-powered insights can help you identify emerging keyword trends before they even show up in traditional keyword research tools. The future of keyword research is less about individual terms and more about understanding topical relationships and user intent – exactly what GA4 excels at.

Putting it all together: your GA4 keyword strategy checklist

Ready to master keyword discovery in GA4? Here's your checklist:

✅ Connect Google Search Console to GA4 and publish the reports 

✅ Set up tracking for internal site search if you have this feature 

✅ Create custom explorations linking landing page performance to traffic sources 

✅ Link Google Ads account to track paid keyword performance 

✅ Use UTM parameters consistently for non-Google paid campaigns 

✅ Implement regular reviews of top-performing keywords 

✅ Identify content gaps based on impression-to-click ratios 

✅ Cross-reference GA4 data with third-party tools for deeper insights 

✅ Create content that addresses both high-volume and niche long-tail terms 

✅ Test and refine your approach based on conversion patterns, not just traffic

Final thoughts

The shift to GA4 and the "(not provided)" era doesn't signal the death of keyword research – just its evolution. By combining GA4's powerful event tracking with strategic integrations and creative analysis, you can build a keyword strategy that's more nuanced and effective than ever before.

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Ready to transform your keyword strategy with GA4? I can help you unlock hidden insights in your analytics that drive real business results. My data-driven approach to copywriting and brand strategy ensures your content doesn't just rank – it converts.

Book a consultation to discover how we can turn your GA4 data into a powerful keyword strategy that outperforms your competition. 🙌

Sources:

1. Google Analytics Help Center, "Linking Search Console to Google Analytics 4", 2025

2. Analytics Mania, "Finding Search Terms in Google Analytics 4", 2025

3. Measure School, "Keywords in Google Analytics 4", January 2025

4. MonsterInsights, "How to See Google Analytics Keywords", February 2025

5. Content Powered, "Viewing Keywords in Google Analytics 4", December 2024

6. Analytify, "Google Analytics Keyword Report", February 2025

7. SEO Chatter, "How to See Keywords in Google Analytics", May 2024

8. Backlinko, "SEO Strategy", April 2025

9. Search Engine Land, "SEO Priorities for 2025", March 2025