Google Analytics has always done an excellent job of helping to evaluate success or failure based on certain information that users have come to identify with. One of the most exciting new features of those recently introduced to the Google Analytics platform is that of Expanded Goals (tracking and depth).
Long story short, you’ve been able to track a few goals before via certain metrics– but now, you have 20 goal metrics by which to trigger activity within goal tracking (a very good thing). No longer just simple ‘did the user navigate to this page or not’ goals, but robust conditions such as elements within pages in script being interacted with, or even one of the new types of goals: Engagement Goals.
These new goal metrics are based on thresholds that a user may meet or exceed, such as time on site ≥x amount of time, or user has viewed ≥x amount of pages. It can quickly be seen how useful these types of goals can be, especially if you’re running an ad hosting site– quite marketable to suggest that a significant percentage of the visitors to the site not only idle, but navigate numerous pages of the site’s architecture, being exposed to more and more of your sponsored messages. It also is indicative of page build that works well; lackluster results can spur improvement, and of course variations on a theme that allow the designer to ascertain what constitues more or less advantageous elements of their layout and presentation.
New tools to track success are always welcome, particularly when they are this flexible and powerful. Being able to derive insight from the implementation of routine analysis is one of the practices that can set one apart from the rest in a world where information enables advantage over competition.
