Goal tracking in Google Analytics
-
Hi folks
I read from various sources that if you setup goals in Google Analytics each of these goals can only be fulfilled once per visit. Also some sources suggesting that only one goal from each goal group can be fulfilled per visit.
On our site we have a goal for external links since this provides value to partners. Some users do open an external link in a new tab, then come back to the main site. Any further goal completions would then not get tracked. Since we apply a result based payment model for our work this means we are literally loosing money.
Anyone has official info from Google on this? Can it be configured? How long is a visit?
Thanks a million and have a great day.
Fredrik
-
We are actually using events as the basis for the goals. But we use the calcuations for conversions and conversion value as basis for many reports so its important that this value is correct. True, we can count the events, that is actually what we do now, manually in excel.
-
For something that repeats like that, I would instead use events, anyway. You'll be guaranteed that it's tracked.
Have you considered events? Would that work for you?
-
Hi Fredrik,
It seems I misinterpreted your original question, to be asking about completing multiple different goals per session. Now I understand your really interested about completing the same goal (External Link) multiple times per session.
Unfortunately i don't know of any articles/sources about this being possible.
-
Have you by any chance seen any articles or outher sources with info about it being possible?
There are quite a few articles stating the opposite. Like this one:
- Each conversion goal can only be triggered once per user session. It makes sense, since you don’t want one person to skew your conversion data by reaching a single goal multiple times in a visit. If you need to know the exact count, then use event tracking.
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/a-beginners-guide-to-conversion-goals-in-google-analytics/42558/
Thanks for the great input and giving us a chance of hope
Fredrik
-
Users only being able to fulfill one goal per visit is incorrect. Not only would it be unintuitive if Google set Goal Tracking up this way, it wouldn't be a very helpful feature if it did work this way.
A goal is triggered every time a goal URL is reached. A common case we see on our site would be a user fulfilling the "Signup" goal, and then proceeding to fulfill the "Contact Us", "Purchase", or "Review" goals. We track these goal URL's via the Google Analytics JavaScript API.
If this is a behavior you are seeing on your site, it could indicate that you have set something up improperly.
**Edit: Fredrik is asking about completing the same goal multiple times per session. This answer was assuming he was asking about completing different goals multiple times per session.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google Analytics / Facebook UTM
Hello, I have a quick question. I am setting up conversion tracking for my Facebook ads, so I am giving each ad set a tracking URL (UTM) in order to see which ads are converting etc. Is it possible to see on analytics how much I am spending on these ads or a cost per conversion? Or does the tracking merely track general analytics data such as bounce rate, exit rate, revenue generated etc? Kind Regards, James
Reporting & Analytics | | SO_UK0 -
Event/Goal Tracking For EKM Powershop
Hi There, I have a client with EKM powershop. I am trying to figure out a way to either setup goal tracking (however I don't know what the final destination page is) or event tracking. I know I can do the ecommerce tag thing, but I am always worried about breaking the tracking code. Any ideas?
Reporting & Analytics | | nezona0 -
Google Analytics Page Metrics and Redirects
Hi All- Context: A site has been redesigned. Pages were renamed in the process. Problem: It's very hard to compare before and after metrics because the page URLs are not the same. Question: Anyone know how to do this in Google Analytics? I'm hoping there's some simple trick I just don't know about. D
Reporting & Analytics | | DonnaDuncan0 -
Google Analytics Myth?
Dear Moz-members, I have read several discussions regarding not to implement Google analytics on your website. Reason: Google is tracking your website behavior, for example you have a high bounce rate it will affect your rankings negative. See it as we are opening the doors too much to Google so it can have a negative impact on your online business, especially when your site is new and you are still building your credit. Because of this i have not chosen to install GA. What is your experience with this? Most of the time if i read analytics posts at Seomoz, people do have GA installed. I am also in doubt whether to switch over at GA, but then again mine site is relative new and i am still working on the negative bounce rate/daily visitors. Would like to hear from you pro's whether this is a myth or not 🙂 Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | mcweb0 -
Advanced Segment on Google Analytics
Hello there, hope everyone is allright and rockin' the SEO world 🙂 Was wondering if anyone could give a tip on how to configure an 'Advanced Segment' on Google Analytics. Basically I need to isolate traffic for 4 specific subfolders. E.g. www.mywebsite.com/solutions/A www.mywebsite.com/solutions/B www.mywebsite.com/solutions/C www.mywebsite.com/solutions/D/part1 Please note that the website has more pages under the specific section. E.g www.mywebsite.com/solutions/Z www.mywebsite.com/solutions/D/part2 but I only need to isolate the 4 directories (and their own sub-folders) mentioned above. Any idea how I could do this? Thanks a lot Joe
Reporting & Analytics | | Joseph.Volcy0 -
Google Analytics Custom Reports eMails only one reporting tab
Goog Morning from 18 degrees C mostly cloudy Wetherby UIK 🙂 I'm on a mission to get away from manual reporting and move over to eMailing custom Google analytics reports. Thanks to this tutorail http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2175001/7-Time-Saving-Google-Analytics-Custom-Reports Ive made good progress but ive hit a snag. The snag being when i email the report the recipient only recieves one 1 report tab of data. This causes a problem when you eMail a report that has multiple reporting tabs like this: http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc53/zymurgy_bucket/tab-export-custom-problemcopy.jpg So my question is please..."When you eMail a recipient a custom report how can you ensure they receive "All" the reporting tabs data and not just one"? Any insights welcome 🙂
Reporting & Analytics | | Nightwing0 -
Track banner ad with google analytics
Hi We have a top banner ad on an external renown site only to attrack traffic. It does show up in google analytics, but i have seen some increase in (direct) / (none) traffic. Is there anyway i can track it when banner is showed from 2 separate URLs http://www.tv2torget.no/bedrift/netthandel/ and http://www.tv2torget.no/bedrift/netthandel/barneklaer/ Thanks Dan Lærum
Reporting & Analytics | | danlae0 -
Why does Google Analytics think PPC traffic is organic?
I have a bastard of a problem... Google Analytics is incorrectly tracking PPC traffic as SEO which is screwing up all my reporting . I don't care for rankings, I care for actual SEO traffic and I can't be sure that what i am seeing is correct which is driving me nuts. Any ideas?
Reporting & Analytics | | Red_Mud_Rookie1