{"id":20149,"date":"2022-07-21T17:05:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T21:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sanctuarymg.com\/academy\/?p=20149"},"modified":"2022-07-14T10:36:06","modified_gmt":"2022-07-14T14:36:06","slug":"why-track-with-google-analytics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sanctuarymg.com\/academy\/websites\/why-track-with-google-analytics\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Track Goals with Google Analytics?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For millions of website owners, tracking their site\u2019s performance with Google Analytics<\/a> is a regular part of their process. But why do so many site owners find GA to be such a valuable asset? And do you really have to use it to run a successful site? This article is going to dive into these questions and more.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Google Analytics?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To avoid getting ahead of ourselves here, let\u2019s first start by talking about what Google Analytics is and what it can do for your site. The simple definition of GA is that it is a web analytics tool that tracks and measures the performance of your website<\/a> based on a variety of metrics. Of course, this tool can be extremely complex and powerful in practical application, but at the core is simply a service that can help you track how your site is working and how many people are coming to visit it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the core statistic that is cited the most frequently with regard to Google Analytics<\/a> is website visitors. If you own a website and you are talking about that website with another site owner, the conversion is almost certain to turn to monthly visitors pretty quickly. This is not the only stat that matters on your site, but it is an important one in terms of how much your site can accomplish and how much money it can generate for your business. So, if you want to know how many people are landing on your pages each month, Google Analytics is a great way to capture that data.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The popularity of this product offered by Google is owed in large part to a couple of factors. First, it\u2019s free. You can simply create an account, follow the relevant steps, and be up and running shortly. You don\u2019t need to be a web developer or any kind of coding expert to implement Google Analytics on your site. Without spending any money at all, you\u2019ll be able to keep track of what is happening on your pages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to being free, GA is also extremely powerful. You can use it on a basic level to figure out things like how many people are finding your pages and how long they are staying, but that\u2019s only just the beginning. When put to use properly, you can leverage this tool to monitor many advanced metrics that will help you make informed decisions about how to improve your site and your business as a whole.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Are Goals and Why Do They Matter?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Conversions
Image Source:\u00a0google-analytics.ie<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of the key functions of Google Analytics is the ability to create goals. Much like goals you would create in any other setting, your GA goals are targets that you hope to meet, and you can track your performance compared to these key metrics over the long haul to make sure your site is trending in the right direction. If you are falling short of some of these goals, you\u2019ll be able to dig deeper into the reports in an attempt to figure out why you\u2019re coming up short and what changes might help you turn things around.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Getting<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As with so much of Google Analytics, you can get extremely in-depth with your goals to monitor countless different areas of site performance. If you are just getting started with GA, however, it\u2019s better to take a big picture view and just use some simple goals to see how the system works and what it can tell you. Before you can set up your first goal, it\u2019s important to understand the four categories of goal types that are available:<\/p>\n\n\n\n