Goal Tracking Essentials for Local Businesses

Online Goals Any Local Business Can (and Should) Track

Goal and conversion tracking for Search Engine Optimization in Google Analytics is helpful for any business. For local businesses, however, it’s critical. Understanding where your business comes from can help you create loyal customers and increase sales.

When starting any internet marketing campaign for a local business, tracking specific goals in Google Analytics can determine the campaign’s overall success. Knowing your way around Google Analytics can take time, but you only need to know a few things to use the data.

You’ll need two things to measure the number of visitors coming to and interacting with your site:

  • Google My Business
  • Google Analytics

Goal Tracking with Google My Business

Every local business needs to have a Google My Business page. It’s free and an easy way to get people clicking over to your website or heading to your storefront. A Google My Business page also shows how people found your site and where they came from. This offers valuable information you can use for goal-tracking specific events.

Fortunately, Google My Business automatically tracks several events when you create your page. In the “Customer Actions” section under the Insights menu, you can see how many people visit your website, request directions to your business, and call you.

As a local business owner, you’ll want to pay special attention to the number of phone calls you receive from your Google My Business listing and the number of people who request directions to your business. Talking to customers over the phone helps build the kind of personal relationships that local companies rely on. Similarly, getting people in the door brings you closer to meeting a future loyal customer.

Example of the Customer Actions view on a Google My Business page
Viewing “Customer Actions” on your Google My Business page lets you learn how customers find you online.

Using Google Analytics, you can see how many customers are finding this information from you online. A high number of online visitors means you may greatly benefit from investing in a more significant online initiative, such as paid search.

Always remember to update your Google My Business page anytime your business undergoes any change, including for temporary closing. If you fail to update a changed phone number or hours of operation, it could reflect poorly on your page if the customer-to-be decides to leave a review.

Google Analytics Goal Tracking for Local Businesses

Getting acquainted with Google Analytics requires more effort than setting up your Google My Business page. However, Google Analytics offers more powerful tools to help you learn more about your business.

First, you should consider the design of your website. When a user visits your local business’s site, three things need to draw their attention:

  • Your phone number
  • Your address
  • Your Contact Us page

Your phone number should be displayed prominently in your header, footer, and Contact Us page. More importantly, you should consider making your phone number “click to call.” Any time someone browses your site on their phone, they can tap on your phone number, and the number will immediately appear on their dialing screen. You can track this event in Google Analytics, and you’ll see how many calls you get from your website every month across different traffic channels.

Secondly, your address should be displayed prominently in your footer and on your Contact Us page. Sometimes, you may even want to show your address in your header, along with your phone number. Regardless of your business’s actual physical location, you can also add a Google Maps link so your business directly pops up in a web browser. Anyone who clicks on the link can quickly get directions to your business. Tracking this event lets you get an idea of how many people use your address to get directions to your business from your website.

Finally, you should have a contact form set up and quickly accessible on the site. Use goal tracking in Google Analytics to see when someone completes a contact form. This will conclusively tell you how many leads, patients, or business inquiries you get from your website and how they came to your site.

Setting Up Google Analytics for Goal Tracking

You can track all your goals using Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager. With Google Analytics, you can set up “onclick” events for your address and phone number.

 

Be sure to replace “category,” “action,” and “label” with the names you used when creating the Goal in Google Analytics, so you’ll know exactly what goal this is tracking.

Unlock Your Business’s Online Potential

The more you know how your customers use your website, the more customers you can have supporting your local business. By seeing how people interact with your site, you better understand your overall business. From there, you can refine your strategy and incorporate practices to drive customers to your store.

This barely scratches the surface of what is possible with Google Analytics. However, you should now have enough guidance to start making a significant impact on your digital presence.

Do you need help with Local SEO or managing your Google My Business page? Do you want to make sure nothing is left out?

Contact SEO Inc. We’re ready to help.

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