How to Track Organic Keyword Conversions in Google Analytics

Tracking which organic keywords actually lead to conversions can feel like a frustrating puzzle. Google Analytics shows you conversions, and Google Search Console shows you keywords, but tying them together is clouded by the infamous "(not provided)" keyword designation. This article will show you how to get around this limitation by connecting Google Analytics 4 with Google Search Console, allowing you to infer which keywords are truly driving value for your business.

Why Is Keyword Data "Not Provided" Anyway?

Years ago, in the days of Universal Analytics, getting a direct report of keywords and conversions was straightforward. However, concerns over user privacy led Google to encrypt search queries back in 2011. When someone is logged into a Google account and performs a search, the keyword they used is hidden from analytics platforms to protect their personally identifiable information (PII). This is why the majority of your organic keyword data in Google Analytics will show up as "(not provided)".

While you can't get that direct 1-to-1 connection back, you can get incredibly close by linking Google's two powerful free tools: Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console (GSC). This connection unlocks specific reports within GA4 that overlay user behavior data with search query data, giving you the insights you need.

Step 1: Connect Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console

Before you can analyze anything, you need to establish the connection between GA4 and GSC. If you've already done this, feel free to skip to the next section. If not, the process is quick and essential.

Your first step is to ensure you have verified ownership of your website in Google Search Console. Once that's confirmed, follow these steps:

Log in to your Google Analytics 4 property.
Click on the Admin gear icon in the bottom-left corner of the screen.
In the Property column, scroll down to the Product Links section and click on Search Console Links.
Click the blue Link button in the top right.
A new window will appear. Click Choose accounts and select the Search Console property that's associated with your website. (You must have "Owner" permissions to do this).
Click Confirm, then Next.
Select the Web Stream for your website (most properties will only have one). Click Next.
Review the information and click Submit.

That's it! Your accounts are now linked. It can take up to 24-48 hours for the data to begin populating in the GA4 reports, so you might need to check back later.

Step 2: Accessing Your Search Console Reports in GA4

Once the data starts flowing, two new reports will appear in your GA4 property that were not there before. To find them, navigate to Reports > Acquisition > Acquisition overview. On the overview dashboard, you'll see two new cards:

Google organic search traffic
Google organic search queries

Clicking into these cards will take you to their respective detailed reports. Unfortunately, they aren't added to the left-hand navigation by default, but you can easily add them for quick access.

How to Add GSC Reports to Your Navigation

In the Reports section, click on Library at the very bottom of the left-hand menu.
You will see a "Search Console" card under the Collections section. Click the three dots on the card and select Publish.

A new "Search Console" section will now appear in your left-hand navigation, containing your new reports.

Here’s a quick overview of what each report shows:

Google Organic Search Queries Report: This is your go-to report for keyword performance. It shows the specific search terms users typed into Google to find your site, along with key GSC metrics like Clicks, Impressions, CTR, and Average Position.
Google Organic Search Traffic Report: This report focuses on the landing pages that people arrive on from organic search. It shows you which pages get the most clicks and impressions.

You’ll immediately notice that the Queries report shows you all your organic keywords, whereas the default GA4 landing page report still shows "(not provided)." The magic happens when we use both of these reports together to connect the dots.

Step 3: The Analysis – How to Connect Keywords to Conversions

Here is the core process for inferring keyword conversions. It’s a two-stage method that uses deductive reasoning: first, you identify which pages convert well, and second, you identify which keywords are driving traffic to those specific pages.

Part A: Find Your Top-Converting Organic Landing Pages

The goal is to pinpoint which pages on your site receive organic traffic and successfully convert visitors. A blog post that converts visitors into newsletter subscribers or a product page that results in a sale are both great examples.

Navigate to Reports > Engagement > Landing page.
Click the Add filter button at the top of the report.
Build a filter where Session medium exactly matches organic. Click Apply. This isolates visitors who arrived from organic search.
Now, look at the table. You see a list of your site landing pages on the left. On the right, you can see metrics like Users, Sessions, and Engagement rate.
Click the tiny dropdown arrow on any column header and select the specific conversion event you want to analyze, such as purchase or generate_lead. Let’s use Conversions for this example to see all conversion types.
Click the header for the Conversions column to sort the table. This will bring your highest-performing organic landing pages to the top of the list.

Take note of your top 3-5 pages. These are the URLs that we will investigate further.

Part B: Identify the Keywords That Drive Traffic to Those Pages

Now that you know your high-value landing pages, you can pivot to Google Search Console to see exactly which keywords are driving clicks to them.

Think of it this way: If Page X is responsible for 50 organic conversions, and Keyword Y sends 80% of the organic traffic to Page X, you can confidently infer that Keyword Y is a high-converting term.

Here’s how to find this data:

Open Google Search Console.
In the navigation on the left, click on Performance > Search results.
You’ll see total clicks and impressions for your whole site. Click the + New button at the top of the filters bar.
Select Page from the dropdown menu.
A filter builder will appear. Paste one of your top-converting landing page URLs from the previous step. Click Apply.

Now, the performance report table below the chart will only show you data for that specific URL. Click on the QUERIES tab above the graph. The table will update to show you a list of all the organic search terms that drove clicks and impressions specifically to your high-converting page.

This is your gold mine of information. By analyzing these lists for each of your top pages, you can build a comprehensive picture of the keywords that have the highest correlation with conversions. Focus your SEO efforts and content strategy around the intent of these terms to drive even more growth.

An Example in Practice

Let's imagine you run an e-commerce site that sells custom t-shirts.

In GA4, you discover that your page /products/vintage-band-t-shirts had 50 organic purchases last month. It's your top-performing organic landing page.
You switch to Google Search Console, filter the performance report by that specific URL.
You look at the Queries report and see these top keywords:
- “Vintage band tees” - 400 Clicks
- “80s rock t-shirts” - 250 Clicks
- “Retro concert shirts” - 180 Clicks
- “Old band t-shirts” - 90 Clicks

From this data, you can directly infer that keywords related to "vintage," "retro," and specific decades (like the 80s) are your most valuable, conversion-driving terms. You can now double down on this SEO strategy: creating more content around these topics, optimizing product descriptions, and building internal links using relevant anchor text.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, getting a clear picture of organic keyword performance requires using both Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console together. By first identifying your top-converting landing pages in GA4, and then filtering your page performance in GSC, you can build a reliable map of the keywords that are generating actual business results.

This process of switching back and forth between platforms, filtering reports, and stitching data together is powerful, but it's also manual and time-consuming. We built Graphed to eliminate this exact kind of friction. By connecting your Google Analytics and Google Search Console accounts to our platform (along with your ad platforms, CRM, and e-commerce store), you can get these answers in seconds. You could simply ask, "show me my top 10 organic landing pages by purchase conversions and the top GSC keywords for each," and get a real-time dashboard instantly, freeing you up to act on the insights instead of digging for them.