The Keywords page in your analytics helps you understand how people are finding your work in different search engines. It can show which of your documents appeared in search, the position they ranked in the results, and the search terms people searched for.
What are search terms? 🔍
Search terms are the keywords that the searching user typed into the search bar, exactly as they typed them. You can use search terms to learn what keywords or phrases your readers are using to find your papers or papers like yours.
What free users see
On the free tier, the Keywords page shows:
- Which of your documents appeared in both Academia.edu searches and third-party search engines.
- Where those documents appeared in the search results list
- An approximate time the search happened
What Premium users see
With Academia Premium, the Keywords page also shows:
- The exact search terms people used that led them to your work
How to find your keyword data
- In the top navigation, click Analytics. Learn how to find your Analytics page
- Click the Keywords tab.
- Review the list to see which documents appeared in search and when.
- If you are on Premium, review the search terms list for the exact queries people used.
How to get more searches
To increase the chances that your work appears in search, you can:
- Add research interests to your paper
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Upload a full-text attachment to your citation
- Tip: Include your search terms from the Keywords page in your full-text attachment
- Include a detailed abstract in the paper metadata
Frequently asked questions
Why is some keyword data missing?
You may not see keyword data if:
- There is not enough recent search activity to report.
- If you don't have any keywords, or people aren't searching for you.
- The search engine didn't share keyword details when someone clicked from their results.
For example, Google may not provide keyword data for some traffic. When keyword data is not provided, it cannot appear in your analytics.
Why do my papers appear in irrelevant search terms?
We do our best to show your paper to a broad audience, so it may appear for search terms that match your tagged research interests, topics in your paper, or similar keywords.
You can try:
- Updating your paper title and abstract to better reflect the topic.
- Reviewing and adjusting the research interests you have tagged.
- Ignoring a few irrelevant searches, since search engines and recommendation systems do not always match perfectly.