Smart Goals, powered by Google Analytics, to optimize in AdWords

Is there any way businesses/companies can identify premier quality of traffic to their websites and at the same time optimize them? Yes, there is a ‘SMART’ way! Smart Goals, powered by Google Analytics that can help you to measure not only conversions but also optimize the Adwords campaign.

People in Online World are very possessive about their data as they plan & execute their strategy accordingly. But with the help of smart goals they can edge over the competitors easily.

What are Smart Goals?

Smart Goals, is a smart way to keep an eye on the performance of your website with the help of metrics which traces the quality of the leads and chances of their conversions. These metrics consider various signals while assessing the smart goals, such as session duration of the user, pages per session, type of browser used, and type of device used etc. Thus, configuring the goals rightly enables Google to provide crucial information, such as the conversion rate of your application or website and also overall number of conversions.  Therefore it is important to know how to set up Smart Goals.

A step-by-step guide on how Smart Goals work

1. By using machine learning, Smart Goals analyses loads of signals to determine which signals have high probability to get converted on your website. (programmatic ads)
2. Each quality visit is allotted a score. The best visit is then translated into smart goals.
3. A threshold is established to determine the ‘best’ visits by picking up about 5% of the traffic coming to the website through Adwords.
4. Once the threshold is established, the Smart Goal feature is enabled on the website to trace website visits, and also ties it up to the other channels of traffic sources, other than Adwords.
5. You can effortlessly import the Smart Goals into Adwords once they are enabled in Google Analytics.

Prerequisites for using Smart Goals

To use Smart Goals, you'll need to meet certain prerequisites and complete the following actions:

1. Link your Google Analytics and AdWords account(s).
2. The linked AdWords account must have sent at least 1000 clicks to the selected Google Analytics view over the past 30 days before you can set up Smart Goals.

If the linked account falls below 500 clicks over the past 30 days for the selected view, Smart Goals will be deactivated until the clicks rise again to 1000 or more. 

1. The reporting view must not receive more than 1 million hits per day.
2. The Data Sharing setting Google products and servicesmust be turned on for your Google ACCOUNT column, select Account Settings.

• Under theData Sharing Settings section, enable the With other Google products only

Enabling data sharing settings

Step 1: Enable Smart Goals

If your view is eligible, you can enable Smart Goals by selecting the Smart Goal goal type when following the regular goal setup flow:

Instructions for setting up Smart Goals

If your view is eligible, you can enable Smart Goals by selecting the Smart Goal goal type when following the regular goal setup flow:

Instructions for setting up Smart Goals

1. Sign in to Google Analytics.
2. Select the Admintab and navigate to the desired view
3. In the VIEWcolumn, click Goals.
4. Click + NEW GOAL.
5. Select Smart Goal(if available).
6. Give your Smart Goal a name and click Save.

No additional configuration or customization is required. (That's part of the reason why we call them "Smart Goals.")

Setting up Smart Goals

If you have selected an Industry Category for this property, the Goal Description step will appear somewhat different from the one shown here. Ignore those differences and select Smart Goals.

Step 2: Import Smart Goals into Adwords

To use Smart Goals to optimize your AdWords performance, you must first import them into AdWords. Here are the basic steps to do this:

Instructions for importing Analytics goals and transactions into AdWords

1. After you've activated Smart Goals in Google Analytics, sign in to your AdWordsaccount, click the Tools tab, and select Conversions.
2. Click Google Analyticsin the left-hand menu.
3. Check the boxes next to the goals or transactions you want to import. Click Continue.
4. On the next page, you'll see settings that will apply to all of the goals or transactions you selected. Make your choices, then click Import goals.
5. Click Close, or to import more goals, click Import more.

AdWords will begin importing the data from your Analytics account. Historical data from before the import won't be included.

 Step 3: Optimize AdWords performance using Smart Goals

To optimize your AdWords performance using Smart Goals, we recommend you use Target CPA bidding, a flexible automated bid strategy. You can also use manual CPC bidding if you would like to manage bids yourself.

After importing Smart Goals into AdWords, let Smart Goals run for a few weeks to accumulate sufficient data. Then, to start using Smart Goals to optimize AdWords performance, divide the cost of your ads by the number of completed Smart Goals. This is your cost per acquisition (CPA). You can set your target CPA in Adwords accordingly.

Example:

You spent $2,000 in Adwords over the past two weeks and have 80 Smart Goals conversions. Therefore, the average CPA for a Smart Goals session during that time period is $25 ($2,000 / 80 = $25). This is the average cost for you to acquire a session with a high likelihood to convert, based on the Smart Goals model.

In this example, you should set your target CPA in Adwords to $25.

The Smart Goals report

To help you see how Smart Goals perform, use the Conversions > Goals > Smart Goals report. This report shows you how your Smart Goals traffic differs from other traffic. You can also include the Smart Goals Completed dimension in custom reports.

The Smart Goals report shows you how Smart Goals would perform even before enabling them in your view (assuming you are eligible to use Smart Goals in the first place). This lets you determine if Smart Goals will be of benefit to you before going through all the steps above.

Both the Smart Goals report and the Smart Goals Completed dimension are only available in views which are eligible for Smart Goals.

Limitations of Smart Goals

Smart Goals are subject to the following limits and restrictions.

• Smart Goals are not configurable or
• You can have one Smart Goal per view.
• Smart Goals will take up 1 of the 20 available goal slots (like any other goal).
• Smart Goals are currently only available for website views. Smart Goals cannot be used for mobile app views.
• Smart Goals are not available for views that receive more than 1 million hits per day.
• Smart Goals do not support View-Through Conversions (VTCs) or cross-device conversions in AdWord.