How to Set Up Goals in Yandex Metrica
Practice4 minInnovialabs editorial team
In short
A goal in Metrica is a visitor action you count as a result: a lead, a call, a jump to a messenger. Create goals in the tag settings, verify them with debug mode and mark the important ones as key goals so Yandex Direct can optimize ads for conversions.
The short answer
A goal in Yandex Metrica is the action your site exists for: submitting a request, tapping the phone number, opening Telegram, placing an order. Without goals, Metrica only shows traffic. With them, you see which sources actually deliver results.
Setup path: Metrica → your tag → Goals → Add goal. Pick a type, set a condition, save. A goal only collects data from the moment it is created — nothing is counted retroactively — so set goals up before you launch ads.
Goal types and when to use each
| Goal type | What it counts | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Page visit | Opening a URL that matches a condition | Thank-you page, cart, checkout |
| JavaScript event | A reachGoal call from site code | AJAX forms, calculators, actions without a URL change |
| Form submission | A form's submit event | Simple HTML forms |
| Phone number click | Tapping a tel: link | Mobile traffic, businesses that sell by phone |
| Messenger click | Clicking a Telegram, WhatsApp or similar link | When leads arrive in chats |
| Email click, file download | The matching links | Price lists, presentations, contacts |
| Composite goal | A sequence of steps | Funnels: catalog → product → cart → order |
Metrica can create some goals automatically (auto goals), such as phone and messenger clicks. That is a good start, but review their names and logic manually.
Setting up the main goals
Page visit. Choose a condition: URL matches, contains, begins with, or a regular expression. For a thank-you page, "contains" /thank-you is usually enough. Make sure the page can only be reached after a real submission, or the goal will be inflated.
JavaScript event. The most reliable option for modern sites. In Metrica, set a goal ID such as lead_form. Your developer then calls it when the submission succeeds — after the server responds, not on the button click:
ym(XXXXXXXX, 'reachGoal', 'lead_form');
Replace XXXXXXXX with your tag number. The ID is case-sensitive: lead_form and Lead_Form are different goals.
Form submission. Metrica lists the forms it finds on the page. This works when the form submits in the standard way. If the form is sent via JavaScript without a submit event, the goal may never fire — use a JavaScript event instead.
Phone and messenger clicks. The phone number must be a tel:+998... link and the messenger a regular link. A number shown as an image or plain text cannot be tracked.
Composite goal. Define several steps, each with its own condition. Reports then show at which step people drop off — useful for online stores and multi-step forms.
How to test a goal
- Open the site with
?_ym_debug=1in the address, for examplesite.com/?_ym_debug=1. - Open the browser console (F12 → Console).
- Perform the target action. The console should log the goal being reached with its ID.
- After a while, check Reports → Conversions: the goal should show a non-zero value.
Test on desktop and mobile, with ad blockers off. Some visitors do use blockers, so a small gap between Metrica and your CRM is normal.
Using goals in Yandex Direct
- Link the tag to the campaign in its settings.
- Mark key goals — the ones Direct will optimize delivery for. Conversion-based automatic strategies need a goal that is already collecting conversions.
- Set a conversion value if some leads are worth more than others.
- Use goals for retargeting, for example people who reached the cart but did not order.
Common mistakes
- A goal on clicking "Submit" instead of a successful submission, so empty forms and validation errors are counted.
- One shared goal for all forms, so you cannot tell which form works.
- A thank-you page that fires again on refresh or from bookmarks, duplicating conversions.
- The tag is missing from some pages or installed twice.
- Passing "soft" goals, like viewing two pages, to Direct — the algorithm then learns to bring low-intent traffic.