Once the core tracking tools are in place, the next step is to define what a meaningful action looks like on your website. Not every click or page view is equal. Some actions show early interest, some show consideration and some show real intent. When we understand these differences, we can set up clear goals and give your analytics and advertising systems the signals they need to perform properly.
What Counts as a Goal?
For most business-to-business websites, a “goal” is any action that moves a visitor closer to becoming a lead or customer. Typical examples include:
- Submitting an enquiry or quotation form.
- Clicking to call on a mobile device.
- Booking an appointment or site visit.
- Downloading a brochure, guide or case study.
- Using a pricing tool or request form.
We do not work with e-commerce websites, so our focus is always on lead generation and qualification rather than online transactions. What matters is understanding the level of interest behind each action.
Using the Bronze, Silver and Gold Funnel
To keep things simple and clear, we group goals into three levels. This helps us understand how people move from early interest to a genuine enquiry.
Bronze goals – early interest
These actions show someone is researching but not yet ready to talk. Examples include:
- Downloading a guide or specification sheet.
- Signing up for a newsletter.
- Reading introductory content.
These are useful signals, but not commercial leads yet.
Silver goals – active consideration
Silver goals show stronger intent. The visitor is comparing options and wants to understand how your business works.
- Downloading a case study.
- Viewing pricing or detailed service pages.
- Requesting technical information.
Gold goals – real enquiries
These are your commercial leads. People here are ready for a conversation.
- Sending an enquiry or quotation request.
- Calling your business.
- Booking a consultation.
By tracking all three levels, we see which parts of your website help move people closer to a quote or conversation.
Giving Each Goal a Relative Value
Not all goals are equal. A newsletter signup is not worth the same as a quotation request. To help AI systems understand the difference, we give each goal a relative value.
These are not exact financial figures. They are simply weights that help the system learn.
- Bronze goals might be valued at 10 or 20.
- Silver goals might be valued at 50 or 100.
- Gold goals might be valued at 300, 400 or 500.
You can adjust these values depending on your industry, average contract size or the strength of each action. The goal is to let Google and Microsoft Ads understand which actions matter most.
How Events Become Goals in GA4
GA4 records activity as events. These include things like form submissions, phone link clicks, downloads and button presses. To turn them into goals, we:
- Track the event using Google Tag Manager or native GA4 tracking.
- Mark that event as a conversion inside GA4.
- Assign the relative value to the conversion in GA4.
Once this is done, GA4 begins storing these valuable actions so we can measure them, analyse them and use them to guide your marketing.
Why GA4 Conversions Perform Better in Google Ads
Google Ads can receive conversions from two places:
- Google Tag Manager (via Google Ads tags), or
- directly from GA4.
GA4 conversions are more valuable because they come with richer behavioural data. They tell Google Ads not just that a conversion happened, but also the journey the visitor took on the site. This additional context helps Ads learn faster and target more accurately.
This is why we import goals from GA4 into Google Ads and Microsoft Ads rather than relying only on Tag Manager’s conversion tags.
Passing Conversions Through to Your CRM
If you use a CRM such as HubSpot, we can ensure that the key conversions are recorded there as well. This lets you see which contacts are enquiring, which pages influenced their decision and which marketing channels they came from.
With proper tracking, the CRM, GA4 and your ad platforms all speak the same language. This is the foundation of data-led marketing.
Why This Improves Advertising Performance
When we track both soft and hard conversions, we give the ad systems a much clearer picture of who your ideal prospects are. Over time, Google and Microsoft Ads begin to:
- attract better-quality traffic,
- improve cost per lead,
- avoid irrelevant searches,
- and reduce wasted spend.
The AI learns from the patterns behind each conversion. With clear signals, it can focus your budget on people who behave like real prospects instead of random visitors.
Laying the Groundwork for Deeper Insights
Once goals and values are set up correctly, we can use the next tools in GA4, such as Path Exploration and conversion reports, to understand the journey people take before they get in touch. These insights help shape future content, landing pages and improvements across the site.
With meaningful goals in place, every decision becomes clearer, and the rest of your digital marketing becomes far more predictable and effective.
