DuckDuckGo not appearing as an organic referrer in Google Analytics? Fear not, I can help you.
Background
DuckDuckGo is an emerging search engine, making headlines as “the search engine that doesn’t track you”. There has been a large growth in DuckDuckGo traffic since 2013, and as a search engine, you should receive traffic from it within Google Analytics.
DuckDuckGo Traffic 2013-2016
You can check what traffic you’re getting from DuckDuckGo in Google analytics by going to the Acquisition report. If you scroll down below the traffic graph to the “source / medium” table you’ll see that DuckDuckGo is listed as a referrer.
DuckDuckGo listed as a referrer
Since DuckDuckGo is a search engine, this traffic should be reported as organic, not referral, and that’s what I’m going to help with in this post.
Problem: Adding DuckDuckGo as a Custom Organic Search Source doesn’t work
The easiest way to solve this type of problem in general (i.e. “I’ve found a search engine that’s tracking as a referrer, can I make it track as organic?”) is to go to Admin > Tracking Info > Organic Search Sources and click +New Search Engine. It works for Dogpile (remember Dogpile anyone..?) and most other search engines, but for some reason doesn’t work for DuckDuckGo.
How to add a custom search engine in Google Analytics
It’s quick to set up a Custom Organic Search Source, with Google providing a good guide alongside a list of their current “default” search engines.
Some search engines that I’ve noticed that are consistently tracked as referrer are:
- DuckDuckGo.com
- Search.Yahoo
- Search.TB.Ask
- Search.BT
- Searchlock.com
- search2.Virginmedia.com
- Dogpile.com
- MySearch.com
- MyPrivateSearch.com
- Search.alot.com
- Search.Clearch.org
- EasySearch.org.uk
- Search.com
- SecureSearch.co
- google.android.googlequicksearchbox
- images.google
- startpage.com
Most of these can be added to the list of Custom Search Engines in Google Analytics, but a few will need an advanced filter to properly track their traffic as organic instead of referral.
The Solution: An Advanced Filter
You might be aware that I love using Advanced Filters to solve problems. The advanced filter I want to use is a rule that says “any time you see a referral from DuckDuckGo, change the medium to Organic”.
The settings for this filter are:
Type: Custom (Advanced)
Field A -> Extract A: Referral duckduckgo\.com$ [Note: Use Regexr or a similar Regex tester if you want to include more search engines]
Field B -> Extract B: Campaign Medium referral
Output To -> Constructor: Campaign Medium organic
Field A: Required
Field B: Required
Override Output Field: Yes
Case Sensitive: No
Advanced Filter example
Save your filter, and your DuckDuckGo traffic should come in as organic, not referral.
Google Analytics good practice points
- Test the filter on a testing profile before moving to main reporting
- Add an annotation to show when this change came into effect
- Be aware that your organic traffic will look different year-on-year because of this. To avoid this happening, you may want to use an advanced segment that includes both organic traffic and Duck Duck Go referrals to get a better comparison
- Regularly review traffic sources in Google Analytics for other examples of misreported traffic
