Setting up Right Goals in Analytics

In order to assist web developers in search engine optimization (SEO), Google launched a tool named Analytics. A simple Java Script code is used by the tool which shows details such as how a user found a website, how they reached to the website, and also how a web designer can improve the user experience of a website. All this information helps in the Search Engine Optimization process to drive more traffic to websites and increase the return on investment (ROI) through higher number of conversions.

Importance of Conversions

The rate of conversions decides the success parameters of online marketing campaigns. Conversions are also known as ‘Goals’ which represents the behaviour of the user to match the motive behind the campaigning. One important way to find out the effectiveness of the campaign is thus, to keep a track of the rate of conversions. Maintaining conversion rates also helps in determining whether keywords, ad creative or other elements require modification. Therefore, it is very important to set up goals to understand the reaction of the search engines to your website, especially when you are using Google Analytics.

Setting up a goal in Google Analytics

Specifying the URL or Goal Page

The goal page is the page where the user reaches after performing the required action for conversion. This page can be accessed only after the conversion has taken place in the form of purchase, register, download etc.

Providing a name to the goal

A name is necessary since it should be easily recognized by Google Analytics to generate reports.

Defining funnels

A funnel refers to a set of pages that lead the user to the goal page. Funnels help you determine the behaviour of a user as he moves towards the goal. In many cases, the users leave the website in between before navigating to the goal, you should know when (which stage) the user left the website. This information will help you in modifying the site design, layout, or ad creative.

Assigning values

Based on the achieved goals, Google Analytics provides metrics such as average score, ROI, and others.

The result of the campaign depends on the assigned values of the goal quantifiers. It is difficult to calculate a value if a direct sales or purchase is not involved. In that case you can calculate the conversion rates and the dollar or pound amount of the conversion to measure the value of a goal.

The first job of a SEO company is to understand how Google Analytics sets up goals and then work through them.