{"id":3811,"date":"2012-11-27T07:49:51","date_gmt":"2012-11-27T12:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/?p=3811"},"modified":"2017-04-20T00:22:01","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T04:22:01","slug":"tracking-content-goals-with-web-analytics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/blog\/tracking-content-goals-with-web-analytics\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracking Content Goals With Web Analytics"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Don’t lose sight of your content goals. Track them with web analytics.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Okay, now that you’re up to speed on a goal-driven approach to web analytics for content analysis<\/a>, let’s look under the hood of Google Analytics to see how you can track those killer success metrics (KPIs) you defined.<\/p>\n

There are many important steps involved in configuring Google Analytics \u2014 or any other web analytics tool \u2014 to properly record, organize and label data. However, defining your analytics goals is probably the single most important step of your configuration process.<\/p>\n

Why? Because you need analytics goals to assess whether your content goals are being met and visitors are taking the actions you want them to. Ultimately, that\u2019s the purpose of web analytics.<\/p>\n

When users meet one of your web analytics goals, it contributes to your conversion rate. A 5% conversion rate means 5% of visitors took the action (or actions) you defined and wanted them to take. Nice to know, right?<\/p>\n

Types of Web Analytics Goals <\/h2>\n

For starters, in Google Analytics, there are four types of web analytics goals that can be configured for tracking.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Google Analytics Goal Types<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
URL Destination:<\/strong><\/td>\nGoal completed when visitor views defined URL<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Visit Duration:<\/strong><\/td>\nGoal completed when visitor spends X amount of time on site<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Page\/Visit:<\/strong><\/td>\nGoal completed when visitor views X number of pages on site<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Event:<\/strong><\/td>\nGoal completed when visitor takes a predefined action<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

If you’re tracking conversions, you will likely be using the URL destination or event goal type, as these types can more easily track specific user actions. As such, I’m going to focus on the two of these for the purposes of this discussion. Visit duration<\/a> and page\/visit<\/a> are considered "engagement metrics" and are less useful for measuring user actions.<\/p>\n

Let’s look at some examples of how these analytics goals track conversions.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Sample Analytics Goals<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Download a PDF:<\/strong><\/td>\nBrochure, student handbook<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
View specific webpage:<\/strong><\/td>\nApplication confirmation, login page, event registration<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Complete a form:<\/strong><\/td>\nFeedback form, inquiry form, newsletter sign-up form<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Visitor engagement:<\/strong><\/td>\nAdd a blog comment, complete a survey, rate an article<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

If these analytics goals were yours, anytime someone downloaded a student handbook PDF, registered for an event, submitted an inquiry form or added a blog post comment, that would get recorded as a completed goal in Google Analytics and contribute to your conversion rate.<\/p>\n

Want to know if your content works? Look at those completed goals. Boo-ya!<\/p>\n

Configuring Web Analytics Goals<\/h2>\n

Okay, this is the technical part. I’m not going to dig into the configuration process because there are already numerous tutorials online about how to set up goals in Google Analytics. Here are few I recommend:<\/p>\n