How to Set Up Site Search Tracking in Google Analytics
Step 1: Open up the profile you wish to set up Site Search for.
Step 2: Click the gear icon in the top right corner of Google Analytics.
Step 3: On the Profiles tab, select “Profile Settings.”
Step 4: Under “Site Search Settings” select “Do track Site Search.”
Step 5: Enter the query parameter used to designate an internal search query (usually either a word like “search” or a letter like “s” or “q”). If you don’t know what query parameter to input here, check out this handy guide from the Google Analytics help section.
Step 6: Select whether or not you want Google Analytics to strip the query parameter from your URL.
Note that this strips only the parameters you provided, and not any other parameters in the same URL. This has the same functionality as excluding URL Query Parameters in your Main Profile: if you strip the query parameters from your Site Search Profile, you don’t have to exclude them again from your Main Profile.
Step 7: Check the “Site search categories” box if you wish to turn this feature on. If you decide to turn it on you’ll need to enter the category parameter (similar to what you did in steps 5 and 6).
Step 8: Click “Apply” and you’re good to go!