Why Google Analytics is still showing data for edited/old "Goals"?

[zpm2014]

For example, I edited "Goal #1" (goal type=event) with new values/event conditions last Nov. 20, 2014. Why Google Analytics is showing numbers from Nov 1-19 for Goal #1? Does Google Analytics show old data?TIA!

[Shakur]

Hi there,

Because you can edit goals, you can always reuse the slots being occupied by inactive goals. If you do this, remember that the previous goal data for the inactive goal will still be in your reports. This can be confusing and misleading, as you may see goal completions for your new goal that were really goal completions for the old goal.

There are three things you can do to limit the confusion:

1. Don’t re-purpose goal slots. Just mark them as inactive.

2. If you must re-purpose goal slots, try to keep the new goals as similar to the old goals as possible.

3. Use the annotations feature in your reports to keep track of any changes you’ve made to your goals. It would also be thoughtful of you to email anyone who uses the reports to notify them of the change.

Hope it helps you.

[zpm2014]

This is really a big help Shakur. Appreciate it. I'm currently repurposing the goal slots as we had a major revamp on our site and we have to create new CTA buttons which also serve as goals for us. I have to repurpose the goal slots as we already exceeded to 20 goals (limit). I'm also using a spreadsheet where I can see the old values (old goals) of the new goals and added an annotation so I can easily see where I should start getting the report for the new setup goals.

[MickEdwards]

I agree with Shakur and reusing goals can become messy.  If you do have the need for multiple goals I would also look at creating one or more new profiles in Analytics.  I'm working on a large site that now has 4 profiles, each with goals that make sense within that given profile.  For example, we have a profile name based around chat with a group of chat events and goals within.