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
-
Strange 404 Pages Appearing in Google Analytics
Hi, My client has some strange urls appearing in GA which lead to error pages. Please see the following image: https://imgur.com/a/6TPO8yL e.g URLs like /h/6445738.html I've used screaming frog to see if these pages exist on the website and I can't find them, anywhere. Therefore how are they coming up in GA? If anyone could please help I'd really appreciate it.
Reporting & Analytics | | SolveWebMedia0 -
I have conflicting user flow and bounce rates Google Analytics
Has anyone come across this or know how to read this data. In my site content landing page report I have 141 sessions at 0.71% bounce rate = 1 session But then in user flow I have the same page with 123 sessions with a drop off of 117 sessions???
Reporting & Analytics | | Lucas_SOS0 -
Google Tag Manager for cross-domain tracking
Anybody experience with setting up Google Tag Manager to contain the Analytics script including cross domain tracking? We have a marketingwebsite .com / .com.br and an application running in a subdomain, but have always had some difficulties in getting the cross domain tracking working. Would be great to be able to exchange some experience with fellow Mozzers.
Reporting & Analytics | | jorisbrabants1 -
Is it possible to use Google Tag Manager to pass a user’s text input into a form field to Google analytics?
Hey Everyone, I finally figured out how to use auto event tracking with Google Tag Manager, but didn't get the data I wanted. I want to see what users are typing into the search field on my site (the URL structure of my site isn't set up properly to use GA's built-in site search tracking). So, I set up the form submit event tracking in Google Tag Manager and used the following as my event tracking parameters: Category: Search Action: Search Value When I test and look in Google Analytics I just see: "search" and "search value." I wanted to see the text that I searched on my site. Not just the Action and Category of the event.... Is what I'm trying to do even possible? Do I need to set up a different event tracking parameter? Thanks everyone!
Reporting & Analytics | | DaveGuyMan0 -
Strange Traffic Spike In Google Analytics
Over the last two days I have seen a huge spike in the pageviews to my site www.learnbonds.com. Up to this point my average page views per visit has been less than 2. For the last couple of days it has jumped to 5 but the average time on the site has not increased. Upon further investigation under the browser and OS page of google analytics I found that traffic coming from internet explorer and IE with Chrome Frame is reporting 10+ pageviews per visit. Below is a screenshot. Any insight into what might be causing this and how to fix it that the community can provide would be appreciated. Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | davidwaring
DaveZUaQWJd.png?1?21800 -
How do I set a filter in Google Analytics?
I want to filter out direct traffic from the service provider msn. For some reason they are crawling our traffic and its throwing off my data. So I want to exclude direct, but only from msn. Would I set my first filter for direct then msn or vice versa? Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | EcommerceSite0 -
Linking Multiple Niche Site In Same Google Analytics Account
Hi, I am providing SEO for Local business. Is it advisable to separate out the Google Analytics into different Google account or is it ok to remain it this way? Some of the client might be in the same niche, and might be competing with the same keywords as well. What I was worried is, Google might see these sites as same owner and only rank for 1 of the site. I was thinking to get the owners to register for their own Google Analytics and share the access to me.
Reporting & Analytics | | JonathanSoh0 -
Re-branding with Google Analytics
GM Mozzers, I apologize in advance if my description of this issue is confusing, but I'm doing my best here. Anyway, due to legal reasons, one of the publications I manage was forced to change their name. We set-up a 301 redirect from the previous domain and have also set-up an analytics profile for the new domain, however, as it stands, visits to the old domain outnumber those to the new domain 12:1. Is there anyway to set-up my analytics profile to the new URL so that this traffic is being attributed to the new domain and the new site, since, after all, it is a redirect. I hope that I explained this sufficiently. Any and all insight will be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Reporting & Analytics | | NiallSmith0