Tracking Search Filter Parameters Using Google Analytics

Question

I'm just wondering if there is a way to do this using Google Analytics.

Let's say I have a search filter like the one used in Trulia.com

There is a text search for the location with other drop-downs for filtering by bedroom, land size, property type (apartments, house) etc.

Is there a way to track the filter and obtain a report for some questions like below using Google Analytics

1. What is the most popular property types (house, apartments) for search in New York area?
2. What is the most common maximum price of users who are looking for apartments in San Francisco?

(or actually Google Analytics is not suitable for this kind of thing?)

Answer 1

If your search results in a search string like

example.com/search?city=Denver&type=house&minprice=10000

then you can track up to 5 parameters. You need to configure Analytics with details of the page and parameters: Admin->Profiles->Profile settings->Site search

You can then do analysis within Analytics to ask those types of questions. If your questions are too complex, an alternative is to search your site logs for those search strings, extract the parameters, and then do your own analysis in Excel, say.