04. Goal Types
Goal Types
Goals fall into one of 4 types, listed in the table below:
| Goal Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Destination | A specific location loads | Thank you for registering! web page or app screen |
| Duration | Sessions that lasts a specific amount of time or longer | 10 minutes or longer spent on a support site |
| Pages/Screens per session | A user views a specific number of pages or screens | 5 pages or screens have been loaded |
| Event | An action defined as an Event is triggered | Social recommendation, video play, ad click |
Smart Goals
In addition to the goal types described above, Analytics provides an alternative conversion tracking method called Smart Goals. Smart Goals are specifically designed to help AdWords advertisers who may not have enough conversions to use the AdWords optimization tools, such as automated bidding. When you have Smart Goals enabled, Analytics automatically evaluates your website or app visits and assigns each a score, with the "best" visits being translated into Smart Goals.
Note: Keep in mind that smart goals are based on what a conversion algorithm thinks your goals are. Sometimes, the smart goals that Google Analytics comes up with are not exactly intuitive and unless your site has lots of transactions, the smart goals are not always completely aligned with your business objectives.
Learn more about Smart Goals.
In our example:
The goals we described for Betabrand, BambooHR and Ezequiel Farca are all destination goals. The destination would be:
- Betabrand: the ‘thank you for your purchase’ page
- BambooHR: the ‘thank you for asking for the demo page’
- Ezequiel Farca: the ‘contact page’ (where people can see the architect’s contact information)
In the case of BambooHR, the goal could also be an event goal if you enable the ‘submit’ button as an event.
E-commerce brands like Betabrand will typically choose to use the e-commerce reports to evaluate goals. We will learn more about that later.
Even though we will talk about destination goals a fair bit in what follows, the other goal types can come in very handy too. For instance, if you are an advertising supported site, the duration goal, or the pages/session goal are at least as important. The longer a user stays on your site, the more ads you can show to that user, generating you more money.