SEO (search engine optimization) work is complicated and often scary for people unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the technical and creative elements that make up this marketing strategy. The good news is this: there are many resources and tool to help you succeed and make your website more optimized to better rank among search results. One of the best free tools available to you is the customizable Google Analytics goals within your Analytics platform. You can create custom goals that help you monitor and improve your marketing campaigns, such as how long people spend on your site, how many events or conversions take place on your pages, and even how many visits your site gets total. By setting up these goals and monitoring your results, you can have a better idea of which of your marketing and, specifically, SEO endeavors are performing the best. There are many options for different types of goals creation within your Google Analytics goals system. A few of the ones we find most valuable include:
- Link Tracking – In your Google Analytics platform, you can set certain goals specific to custom links that have to do with certain products, placements, and advertising. These links are reported on through UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) links. This entails creating a custom URL that you can use in your marketing efforts that will tell you how this specific link performed. By using a custom UTM link in each campaign, you will be able to see what works best right in your Analytics platform. You can build your own custom UTM tracking links via Google’s Campaign URL Builder to start seeing which of your marketing and SEO efforts are paying off.
- Website Visits Goal – One of the biggest metrics of success for your SEO work is the number of people who visit your site over time. Within the Google Analytics goal system, you can set metrics around where you’d like to see this number go over time and if your content is bringing new people to the site. You can also dive a bit deeper and see which pages people visit most frequently to see if there are any areas of your site that get less traffic than others.
- Time Spent on Site – Another helpful goal to set up is to track how long people are spending on your website. By writing great content and having useful information on your site, people will naturally stay longer. Tracking how long a user is there is a valuable way to determine if visitors find your site useful.
- Event Goals – We’d be remiss if we didn’t include this bullet. An event is defined as a purchase, completed form, or any other conversion you wish to see on your site. The more events your site experiences, the more successful visits you will have. Tracking the events on your site is a great way to see if your users are funneling themselves through your objectives as you wish them to.
Ready to start utilizing the Google Analytics goals feature for your website? Click here to learn more about how to set up and monitor them. You’ll be amazed at just how much your SEO and marketing efforts can be improved by setting goals and working to make your SEO and marketing efforts stronger to reach them.
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