Site search tab metrics

This guide defines every metric on the Site search tab and how each one is calculated.

Each metric here measures visits that included a search. Product page views and add-to-carts count what shoppers did during those searches, while conversions and revenue are credited to search by the attribution model.

Add-to-cart rate

• Definition: Add-to-carts per search visit.
• How it's calculated: Search add-to-carts ÷ search visits.
• How to read it: How strongly search pushes shoppers toward the cart.

Add-to-carts

• Definition: Add-to-cart actions that happened during a search.
• How it's calculated: Add-to-carts counted inside search browse sessions. Every add-to-cart adds 1.
• How to read it: How strongly search moves shoppers toward the cart. This counts activity during the search, not credited sales, so it can move independently of search conversions. Example: A shopper adds one product to the cart while searching and another while browsing a category. Only the add-to-cart made during the search counts here.

Average order value

• Definition: The average value of an order that included a product found via search.
• How it's calculated: Search revenue ÷ search conversions.
• How to read it: It reads as average credited value per credited order, so it's lower than basket AOV when baskets mix paths.

Bounce rate for sessions

• Definition: Percentage of browse sessions where the shopper viewed no product and added nothing to cart.
• How it's calculated: Bounced sessions ÷ total browse sessions.
• How to read it: Your main search-quality number. It uses browse sessions as the denominator, so each search is judged on its own — 1 visit with 5 searches counts as 5 searches here, not 1.

Bounced sessions

• Definition: Browse sessions where the shopper viewed no product and added nothing to cart
• How it's calculated: Browse sessions count where the shopper viewed no product and added nothing to cart.
• How to read it: The raw count of failed searches. A bounce judges the search, not the shopper — a visit that later converts can still hold 1. Example: A shopper searches "jumpsuit," likes none of the results, and searches something else. That first search is a bounced session, even if the visit ends in an order.

Conversion rate

• Definition: Orders credited to search per search visit.
• How it's calculated: Search conversions ÷ search visits.
• How to read it: How efficiently search visits turn into orders.

Conversions

• Definition: Orders credited to search.
• How it's calculated: An order counts here when at least 1 of its products is credited to search. A product is credited to the last browse session in which the shopper added it to the cart, or the last one in which they viewed it if they never added it.
• How to read it: How many orders search earned credit for. An order with no product credited to search doesn't appear.

Product page views

• Definition: Product pages viewed from search results.
• How it's calculated: Counts each time. Product page views inside a search browse session.
• How to read it: How much product interest search drives. Pages reached another way aren't counted here. Example: A product page a shopper opens by browsing a category, not from a search result, doesn't count here.

Revenue

• Definition: Revenue from products shoppers found via site search.
• How it's calculated: The value of search-found products in those orders — a basket is split by how each product was found.
• How to read it: Search's direct revenue contribution. It credits the search-found portion of a basket, not the whole order. Example: A shopper checks out one basket holding a £54 dress found via search and a £35 dress found via a category. Search revenue records £54, and the £35 belongs to the category.

Revenue per visit

• Definition: Revenue credited to search per search visit.
• How it's calculated: Search revenue ÷ search visits.
• How to read it: Compare it to overall revenue per visit — search visitors usually monetize better, which is the standard case for investing in search quality.

Total browse sessions

• Definition: Search browse sessions — each search and the browsing that follows it. One visit can contain several.
• How it's calculated: One per search browse session.
• How to read it: Browse sessions ÷ visits shows how hard shoppers work to find things; a rising ratio can mean first searches aren't landing. Example: A shopper who searches "dresses" and then "jumpsuit" creates 2 browse sessions in 1 visit.

Visits

• Definition: Visits in which shoppers used site search.
• How it's calculated: Visits containing at least 1 search, counted once no matter how many searches they ran.
• How to read it: The denominator for every search rate. Compare it to overall visits to see how much of your traffic searches. Example: A shopper who runs 3 searches in 1 visit counts as 1 search visit.

Queries performance table

Shows per-query performance — traffic, engagement, and credited revenue for each search term. Each row applies the metrics above to a single query.

How are metrics calculated

The same formulas as above, scoped to one query. A visit that searched several queries counts under each, so the Visits column can sum to more than the tab's Visits.

2 extra columns appear: Sessions (query's browse sessions), and Bounce Rate (bounced sessions ÷ its sessions).

Example: A shopper who searches "dresses" and "jumpsuit" in one visit appears under both query rows, so the Visits column can total more than the tab's Visits. If the product was credited to "dresses," the sale shows under "dresses," while "jumpsuit" shows zero revenue and a 100% bounce rate.

How to read it

High visits with a high bounce rate flag a relevance or stock problem on a query shoppers care about.

Products performance table (query drill-down)

Shows how each product performed for this query — the product measured against this query, not its global numbers.

How are metrics calculated

• Product page views: Views of this product during searches for this query.
• Add-to-carts: This product added to the cart during searches for this query.
• Conversions / Revenue: Orders including this product credited to this query, and this product's value in them.

How to read it

Shows which products deserve the query's traffic. High views with no conversions under a high-intent query are a pricing, imagery, or availability concern.