Getting 'None', value for "search_keyword" in the : delimited "Search Engine + Search Keyword(s)" string is consistently "::empty::" in marketing channel

[PadmajaS]

Hi @Jennifer_Dungan, 

For Paid processing rules, I am setting the channel's value to "Search Engine + Search Keyword(s)", which according to this below page is defined as follows:
https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/analytics/admin/admin-tools/manage-report-suites/edit-rep...

Why this below case was happening.

1. In Paid Search, I am seeing a lot of "None" - what might be the cause of that?

2. The value for "search_keyword" in the : delimited "Search Engine + Search Keyword(s)" string is consistently "::empty::" for Paid Search. Obviously this is useless information. Is this a bug/limitation with "Search Engine + Search Keyword(s)", or is there something else that might be contributing to this issue here?

[PadmajaS]

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/analytics/admin/admin-tools/manage-report-suites/edit-rep...
this correct reference URL.

[Harveer_SinghGi1]

Hi @PadmajaS ,

It seems @Jennifer_Dungan has answered both of your questions even before you asked in a older community post - https://experienceleaguecommunities.adobe.com/t5/adobe-analytics-questions/marketing-channel-details...

Cheers!

[PadmajaS]

Hi @Harveer_SinghGi1 ,Thank you for pointing that out! I came across the post by @Jennifer_Dungan, but I’m still unclear about a few details. Specifically, I’m trying to understand how to implement the suggested solution in my use case" or "the exact configuration steps she outlined".

If you could provide additional context or elaborate on this part, I’d really appreciate it.

Thank you in advance for your help!

[Harveer_SinghGi1 · Accepted solution]

Hi @PadmajaS ,

Here's what I believe is happening,

1. In Paid Search, I am seeing a lot of "None" - what might be the cause of that?

A: As you are setting this channels based on some QSP and Tracking Code values, it is possible that some hits have these conditions met but they are not coming from any Search Engine, in such cases the channel details doesn't have anything to populate and it populates as None. You should be able to verify this by breaking down the None value by referrer information.

2. The value for "search_keyword" is consistently "::empty::" for Paid Search

A: As Jennifer_Dungan mentioned in the other thread, this is happening as most search engines no longer pass the search keyword due to increasing privacy practices. An alternative is to use only the Search Engine as the channel details or other options that I have seen clients use are Tracking Code as these can be closely matched to where the user is coming from.

I have also noticed that all your channel detail values under Paid Channel are starting with "n" which denotes a natural search. I believe your Marketing Channels Processing Rules and Paid Search Detection is not properly synced and that is causing this discrepancy. Depending upon what you treat as Paid Search apply the detection logic in both the places.

Cheers!

[Jennifer_Dungan]

So there already seems like a lot of great advice here, but I will also weigh in.

First off, for Paid and Organic Search rules, most people ensure that they are using the Paid / Natural search identifiers (this is configured elsewhere in Adobe and limits the data to known Search Engine traffic with specific campaign codes (paid), lack of those paid campaigns (but still coming from a known search engine) are considered "Natural Search".

You then don't need to add all the parameter rules here, you just choose Paid Search Detection Rules or Natural Search Detection Rules, and then set the detail to "Search Engine"... (as others have mentioned, I don't know why "Search Engine + Keywords" is even still an option, since it's obsolete).

Technically any paid search term could be picked up and shared by users, or be loaded via a social network app, etc... and thus not come from a "search engine referrer".... I actually defer to "Tracking Code" here as this is more important to me than the Search Engine... however, on Organic Search, I do use "Search Engine" as there is no other detail field that makes sense:

This does however mean that URLs containing paid search campaigns may bypass this rule, so technically I can let this be caught by my general affiliate rules, or I can set up another rule to capture "paid search not from a search" and track it differently, or I can roll those rules up into my Paid Search... which in my case wouldn't cause a big issue since I am not tracking the Search Engine as my detail, but would be an issue if you are trying to pass "Search Engine".

If you do need to use "Search Engine" on your paid searches, I would make sure you are specifically configuring your Paid Search Detection, and using it, then creating a secondary rule to catch the "search campaigns" that don't come from a search engine.