Google Analytics rocks, but the single most annoying thing about it is its inability to provide the exact search phrase that a visitor enters in a search engine through PPC. Instead Google AdWords & Analytics only reports the keyword/phrase that you bid on.
If you are an AdWords marketer and are with me this far, I am sure you share the sadness I feel 
. If not, don’t worry, read on and I will share the sadness, but also the shining bright light to AdWords keyword happiness! 
Ok, an example perhaps?
Sure – by default, a broad match for a keyword or keyphrase is used in AdWords.
So, Let’s say I bid on the term ‘Google Analytics’ with a broad match in AdWords and a visitor enters ‘The Cheaters Guide for Integrating Google AdWords & Analytics’ into a search engine.
Providing I had bid enough and the Quality Score for the keyphrase was also high enough, the ad would show – but up until now, the only data that AdWords or Analytics would provide about the search keyphrase are the keywords that I bid on and not the exact words that the searcher entered.
This is ok for an exact match, but what can you learn about the search behaviour for a broad or phrase match? Very little! I originally thought Google had selectively chosen to exclude this data for commercial reasons in an attempt increase its ever expanding money pockets.
Fear Not…
The guys from GA-Analytics have been busy formulating a filter to solve this exact problem. In fact, I have found it very useful for Yahoo & MSN PPC campaigns too.
It turns out that Google is not being quite the scrooge I first thought. But they certainly don’t make it easy! Luckily the GA-Analytics boys do:
1) Create two filters as per the images here:
Override Bid Term 1 & Override Bid Term 2
2) Create a new profile for your existing site. This keeps the detailed keyword data in a separate profile. You can apply this filter to your main profile(s) if you prefer, but a separate profile allows for continuity and top level reporting in your main profile with keyword detail available as required.
3) Apply the two filters to the new profile, in the order Override Bid Term 1 *then* Override Bid Term 2
What does this mean?
This awesome extra bit of detail can help in the refinement of your Google AdWords campaigns. It can really boost your long tail keywords strategies. The long term concept focuses on a smaller volume of searchers for more specific niche terms.
Long tail keywords are often less competitive and have the potential to have a really high conversion rate for your products and services. Oftentimes, the more keywords a searcher users, the closer they are in the ‘buying search process’ – wohoo, real them in baby!
It can also be used to identify keywords that are not relevant and do not convert for your product or services. You can build up a list of negative keywords for all or some of your campaigns.
I really love this filter. Remember though, filters can be used to include or exclude data. For this reason I would make sure you make a duplicate analytics profile when applying a new filter, until you get your bearings and are sure you haven’t filtered out any useful data!