{"id":1390,"date":"2015-09-07T21:47:29","date_gmt":"2015-09-08T01:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/?p=1390"},"modified":"2016-04-30T22:14:21","modified_gmt":"2016-05-01T02:14:21","slug":"how-to-set-up-goals-in-google-analytics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/how-to-set-up-goals-in-google-analytics\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Set Up Goals In Google Analytics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1407\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/goal-completions-in-google-analytics1.png\" alt=\"goal-completions-in-google-analytics\" width=\"1181\" height=\"206\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In Google Analytics, a goal is a predetermined action taken on a website that you consider to be noteworthy enough to track. Goals not only show you how well your site is performing for these key metrics, they can also show you:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>which efforts are driving leads by <a href=\"\/resources\/google-analytics-url-builder-for-custom-utm-codes\/\">using campaign tracking<\/a> (social, email, PPC)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/how-to-create-custom-segments-in-google-analytics\/\">segment out just the goal converters<\/a> to look for any patterns to build upon<\/li>\n<li>which pages have a very high assist in the conversion, and which ones did not by using goal values<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Goal Examples<\/h2>\n<p>Goals are unique to each site, and each site will have different metrics that should be measured. Google Analytics goals are a configurable and measurable way to see if visitors to your site are taking these predetermined actions.\u00a0Here are some common sites, and some common goals for each type of site.<div class=\"one_half\"><\/p>\n<h5>E-commerce site<\/h5>\n<p>Purchasing A Product<br \/>\nClick To Call<br \/>\nProduct Review<br \/>\n<\/div><div class=\"one_half column-last\"><\/p>\n<h5>Corporate \/ Marketing<\/h5>\n<p>Form Completion<br \/>\nPages Per visit<br \/>\nVisit Duration<br \/>\nNewsletter Signup<br \/>\nBlog Comments<br \/>\n<\/div><div class=\"clear\"><\/div><\/p>\n<h2>Creating A Goal<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1402\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/google-analytics-new-goal1.png\" alt=\"Google Analytics - New Goal\" width=\"831\" height=\"195\" \/>To create your first goal, navigate to the Admin portion of Google Analytics, select your view, and then Goals in the options below.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/goals-setup-step-11.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1416\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/goals-setup-step-11.png\" alt=\"Goals Setup Step 1\" width=\"360\" height=\"245\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Step 1 &#8211; Goal Setup<\/h2>\n<p>Goals are unique to each view. Select the &#8220;New Goal&#8221; button to create your first goal.<\/p>\n<p>In Step 1, you are presented with the option to use an existing <strong>Template<\/strong>, or use a <strong>Custom<\/strong> goal.<\/p>\n<p>I rarely use templates and always go straight to the &#8220;Custom&#8221; goal, which is very powerful and allows you greater customization.<\/p>\n<h2>Step 2 &#8211; Goal Description<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/goals-setup-step-21.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1418\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/goals-setup-step-21.png\" alt=\"Goal Setup Step 2\" width=\"360\" height=\"321\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In Step 2, you will need to enter a <strong>Name<\/strong> for your goal. This should be immediately recognizable, as you&#8217;ll be using this name across Google Analytics to view your goal. You can always edit goal names after creation as well by editing your goal.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to a name, you will also select a <strong>Goal Slot ID<\/strong>. It&#8217;s ideal to have the most important goal on your site be Goal ID 1 \/ Goal Set 1. \u00a0The goal sets allow you to group different types of goals for your site.<\/p>\n<p>The last option is the <strong>Goal Type<\/strong>, which focuses on different criteria. There are\u00a0four primary goal types:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><strong>Destination<\/strong><\/em> is a final page that someone will visit, such as a specific thank you page for a contact form or a receipt page for an e-commerce site.<\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Duration<\/strong><\/em> is a specific visit length. A good metric is one that is slightly longer than your average visit length.<\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Pages\/screens per visit<\/strong><\/em> is a quantity of pages that the user visits in a single session.<\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Event<\/strong><\/em> is a specific Google Analytic Event that is triggered &#8211; many times events are custom programmed, or have to be enabled by your CMS or a plugin.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Step 3 &#8211; Goal Details<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/goals-setup-step-31.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1421\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/goals-setup-step-31.png\" alt=\"Goal Setup Step 3\" width=\"360\" height=\"259\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Step 3 will vary depending on which Goal Type you specified &#8211; here we are showing a Destination goal. For the destination, you will want to enter the page that the visitor will load to complete the goal. In this example,\u00a0we have a Contact Form Thank You URL.<\/p>\n<p>You can also enter a value for how much the goal is worth. <em>I highly recommend taking the time to figure out your goal value, or at the very least inputting an arbitrary number like $1<\/em>. This is because having a value will allow Google Analytics to resolve which pages have &#8220;value&#8221; on your site, so you can quickly see which pages assist more than others.<\/p>\n<h5>Determining Goal Value<\/h5>\n<p>Figuring out a goal value is a simple matter. Here&#8217;s the formula:<\/p>\n<pre>Value Of Goal Completion = Average Action Value * Close Ratio<\/pre>\n<p>So, let&#8217;s say your Average Action Value is <strong>$120<\/strong> (the overall average of this goal), and your Close Ratio (or the % of times you will close each goal) is <strong>15%<\/strong>. This means that your Average Value Of Goal Completion is <strong>$18<\/strong> <em>(120 * .15). S<\/em>o each time this goal is completed, it&#8217;s like $18 to your organization.<\/p>\n<h2>Other Goal Information<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Google Analytics does not have, at current, a way to delete goals.<\/li>\n<li>There are a maximum of 20 goals per view.<\/li>\n<li>Goals are unique to each view &#8211; if you use multiple views, you may need to set up goals across all necessary views.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Questions<\/h2>\n<p>If you have any questions about goals, their setup, or their use, fire a comment below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Google Analytics, a goal is a predetermined action taken on a website that you consider to be noteworthy enough to track. Goals not only show you how well your site is performing for these key metrics, they can also show you: which efforts are driving leads by using campaign tracking (social, email, PPC) segment [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[67,108,42],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How To Set Up Goals In Google Analytics - www.gregcruce.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Google Analytics Goals show you how well your site is performing for defined actions, as well as sources of traffic and which pages are high value.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gregcruce.com\/how-to-set-up-goals-in-google-analytics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How To Set Up Goals In Google Analytics - 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