How to Add a Goal in Google Analytics

In Google Analytics, the purpose of a goal is to measure your business objectives and keep track of specific actions visitors perform on your website. Your goal may be to have visitors download a document from your website, purchase a product, or sign up for a newsletter. There are several different types of goals you can set up in your Google Analytics account; such as a goal that tracks the amount of time a visitor has spent on your website or a goal that measures the number of pages that are viewed. Continue reading to learn how you can add a goal for your website in Google Analytics.

1. Visit the Google Analytics website found in the Sources section of this article to access your Analytics account.
   Ads by Google
2. Click on "Access Analytics" or type in your username and password in their designated fields.
3. Locate the profile you want to add a goal for in the list provided on the Overview page.
4. Click on the link for "Edit," which is listed under the Actions column on the far right in the same row as your profile.
5. Locate the Goals section and click on "Add Goal."
   • There are 4 sets of goals and each set contains 5 goals, so you can create a maximum of 20 goals.
6. Type a name for your goal in the "Goal Name" field.
7. Verify that your goal is already active and turned on.
   • The "On" radio button will be selected by default, but you can select the "Off" radio button if you want to activate your goal at a later time.
8. Set the Goal Position by selecting your desired option from the drop-down menu.
   • The Goal Position field can be useful if you have multiple goals and want them to appear in a specific order in your Analytics reports.
9. Select a Goal Type by clicking on the radio button for your preferred option.
   • Choose "URL Destination" if your goal is to have visitors land on a specific page on your website. This goal option will allow you to set up a funnel, which is useful if you want to track the progress of visitors as they click through pages to reach the goal destination.
   • Choose "Time on Site" if you want to measure the amount of time a visitor spends on your website.
   • Choose "Pages per Visit" if you want to view how many pages visitors browsed while they were on your website.
10. Complete the fields provided in the Goal Details section depending on the Goal Type you selected.
11. Select a "Match Type" from the drop-down menu.
    • The Match Type field determines how you want the URL used by the visitor to match with the URL you identify for this goal type. In some cases, a URL can change slightly depending on where the visitor is coming from. An Exact Match is when all your URLs remain the same and never change. A Head Match allows you to designate a specific string of characters in your URL that you want matched and can be useful if visitors have an identification number when they are logged into your website. Regular Expression enables wildcard matching of certain characters in the URL and is helpful if visitors land on the URL from a sub-domain.
12. Type the goal URL of your website page next to the Goal URL field.
    • Include the part of your URL that follows after your domain; do not provide your domain. For example, if your website ends in ".com," include all the characters following ".com," including the forward slash.
13. Indicate if the URL you specified is case-sensitive.
    • If your domain or URL requires certain upper-case or lower-case letters for it to work, place a check mark in the field next to "Case Sensitive."
14. Type a value into the optional field of "Goal Value."
    • For example, if your URL Destination is a checkout page for visitors that buy a product from you, enter the amount of total transactions you want to occur.
15. Create a funnel if you want to track the conversion process of visitors on the path to completing your URL Destination goal.
    • Click on "Yes, create a funnel for this goal" to open your funnel options.
    • Provide each URL in the series of URLs for the funnel by typing in the characters following your website's domain.
16. Click on the "Save Goal" button to complete your goal and funnel.

Time On Site Goal

1. Select "Greater than" or "Less than" to indicate how you want time measured in the Condition field.
2. Provide the amount of time you want to measure in the fields for Hours, Minutes, and Seconds.
3. Designate an optional Goal Value.
   • For example, if your goal is to have at least 200 visitors stay on your website for the amount of time you have specified, enter the number 200 in this field.
4. Select "Save Goal" to finish the process of adding your goal.

Pages Per Visit Goal

1. Choose from "Greater than" or "Less than" to indicate how you want your pages measured from the drop-down box next to "Condition."
2. Indicate the number of page visits you want to measure in the "Pages Visited" field.
3. Set a value in the optional field next to "Goal Value."
   • For example, if your goal is to have every visitor browse 5 pages on your website, enter that value here.
4. Click on "Save Goal" to finish adding your goal.
   
   Source : www.wikihow.com