Google Analytics is a powerful, free tool offered by Google that provides valuable data to help you monitor and improve your website’s performance. Find out how to take your Google Analytics data to the next level by setting up Goals.

Watch the video to find out how to edit your Google Analytics account to set up Goals.

 

There are three types of Goals

URL Destination - Use this to track how many people view a specified page of your website. For example, if you are working hard to get people to sign up for your e-newsletter, set up a Goal to track how many people view the “Thank You” page that they are redirected to once they complete the sign up process.

Time on Site - When you have a blog, you want read to spend time reading it! Set up a Time on Site Goal based on the minimum time that you would ideally like people to spend reading your website. And then work to achieve the Goal, for example, by adding links to other relevant articles to keep people reading, by making sure that your navigation links are clear and prominent and by creating incredibly valuable content that keeps your readers hanging on every word.

Pages per Visit – Ideally you want people to read more pages of your website than the one they came in on. As with the Time on Site Goal, you can determine how well your content, website layout and Calls to Action are working by how many pages people visit on your website. Set your Goal and keep refining  your content in order to achieve it.  By getting people to read more than one page of your website, you also reduce your Bounce Rate.

Using Goals to Evaluate your Traffic Sources

Google Analytics Goals are valuable in terms of evaluating your web traffic sources and letting you see where you’re getting the best return for your time and money. By viewing the Goals tab in Traffic Sources, you can see which sources lead to the most Goals being achieved. And if you’re paying for any of the traffic sources, this helps you determine if you’re getting a return on your investment.

Read more about Goals, including Goal Value and Goal Funnels, in this article from Google.

Got a question about setting up Goals in Google Analytics? Feel free to leave a comment below.

Until next time

Search-Mel