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How to track pdf downloads from external links

How to track pdf downloads from external links
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Configuring Link Tracking for Adobe Analytics


Jan 23,  · Many websites offer marketing resources such as whitepapers or reports to be downloaded. These resources often come in the form of a PDF. In many cases, it is helpful from a marketer’s point of view to track these downloads. They can make marketing decisions based off interest in the resource’s content. Google Analytics tracks page views through a tracking pixel on an Author: Melanie Lenaghan. Jan 08,  · By default, MonsterInsights lets you track downloads of the following file extensions: doc, pdf, ppt, zip, xls, docx, pptx, and xlsx. But you can add more extensions that you want to track. To add file extensions in MonsterInsights, go to Insights and then click Settings. Oct 16,  · Consider a few scenarios: You want to track all clicks from your site to a partner site. You want to create a landing page where clicking on a PDF file is considered a conversion (instead of completing a web form) You want to track all clicks to links on your corporate overview PPT file or PDF data sheet.




how to track pdf downloads from external links


How to track pdf downloads from external links


If you do, you probably want to track how often your visitors download this content. Tracking downloads on your website can help you figure what motivates your visitors. It can also help you determine which kind of content upgrades your audience really wants. Depending on your website's setup and your resources, there are a number of options for tracking file downloads. Let's look at how this tracking works in Google Analytics.


Then we'll walk through the options you have available for tracking downloads. We'll start with the easiest solutions, how to track pdf downloads from external links, and end with the most difficult. Google Analytics loves to track pageviews. Because web pages execute JavaScript when they load in your browser. PDFs and other types of downloadable files don't trigger JavaScript. So the standard Google Analytics tracking code does not record file downloads. The same applies to user activity on a web page.


If the user's action doesn't trigger your code, Google Analytics won't track it. If you want to track events that don't execute browser-based code, you have to do some extra work. You have to tell Google Analytics what you want to track, and how to track it. You can put some additional code on your website. Or you can use a plugin that puts the event tracking code in place for you.


Event tracking is how you tell Google Analytics to record user behavior that doesn't automatically trigger your tracking code. Usually, events are actions on the pages of your website. Common examples of events include video views, page scrolling, or file downloads. The event code sends a hit to Google with the category of the event.


It also tells Google the action that occurred and gives that action a label. In the event code, you can also tell Google to assign a value to the event. An interaction event is a true or false type of command that exists within the event code. It tells Google that something did, or did not happen based on the user interacting with your webpage. Interaction events can be used to track bounce rate more precisely. Non-interaction events don't affect your bounce rate at all.


But if you don't want to add code to your files manually, there are automated alternatives. Automation is also a better solution if you need to track many downloadable files. There are several automated solutions for tracking downloads on your website. If you have GTM on your website, all you need to do to track your downloads is create an event trigger. The trigger will record an event in Google Analytics every time a visitor clicks your download link. Within the trigger, you can use a regular expression to fire an event based on your file extensions.


This expression tells the trigger to fire if any of these extensions are present in your URLs, how to track pdf downloads from external links. So, if someone clicks a how to track pdf downloads from external links on your site that contains. And that action will record a download event in Google analytics. Tracking downloads using GTM is a very straightforward process.


And it's the industry standard for measuring this type of event. The MonsterInsights interface allows you to track file downloads automatically. And they give you the option to use events or virtual page views. Tracking your downloads in MonsterInsights how to track pdf downloads from external links easy to configure, and it's a comparable option to GTM. I remember you talking about that.


The best way is to use Google Tag Manager. Alas, I am stuck with Google Analytics. So I need to set up Event Tracking I believe. Marco can't use GTM for his client's website. Manually adding code sounds complicated, but there is a tool that can help you create event tracking links.


Raven Tools has a form that allows you to build event tracking code for your download links. Their form will create two sets of tracking code. You can choose to use either line of code in your download URL.


You can copy either of these lines of code and embed them in the link for your downloadable file. This code will trigger a download event in Google Analytics anytime someone clicks your file link. Autotrack is a javascript library built on top of the analytics tracking code analytics. In the event tracking code, you adjust the data-event-category to register based on your button click.


And you make the data-event-action equal your download. For this to work, you need to have Autotrack installed. You also need to have control over the metadata in your website's HTML. These tracking options might be starting to sound pretty advanced, but not every analytics solution is easy. That's why we started with the simpler solutions first, how to track pdf downloads from external links.


In general, the more difficult solutions provide more control. But they take more time to implement. With that in mind, let's talk about how you custom code your site to track downloads in Google Analytics. Custom coding is the most advanced solution. It involves writing your own code. Then you have run tests using your own systems to make sure your code executes correctly. Here's an example of what your code would need to communicate with Google Analytics to track your downloads.


This is not the actual code for this operation. This example is written using a computer science technique known as pseudocode. If the other options we covered so far don't work, you can try to find a third-party tool to help you track your downloads. I know these libraries exist, or they did at one time. But, my searches to find a library to share did not produce any results. It's possible these tools were made extinct by GTM. So, I don't have an example of a third-party tool that does automatic event tracking.


But I'm pretty sure there's one out there somewhere. If you can recommend a third-party tool for event tracking, please leave a comment below. We'll update this section of the post with your suggestions. The best solution, in my opinion, is GTM. But the strategy you choose depends on your website setup and the resources at your disposal.


Let us know, which one of these tacking techniques works best for you? Leave a comment below with method you use for track downloads. Also, if you use a strategy we didn't cover, share it in the comments. We'll continue to expand this post with your recommendations. Jeff Sauer is an independent Digital Marketing Consultant, how to track pdf downloads from external links, Speaker and Teacher based out of a suitcase somewhere in the world, how to track pdf downloads from external links.


Do you have a whitepaper, ebook, PDF, or other files offered as downloads on your website? Google Analytics does not automatically track this activity. But… You can set Google Analytics up to track downloads automatically. Quick Navigation Tracking downloads using events Automated download tracking Google Tag Manager downloads tracking WordPress plugin for downloads tracking Why doesn't Google Analytics automatically track downloads?


But what about web-based activity that doesn't execute JavaScript? Using event tracking and virtual page views to track downloads There are two ways you can tell Google to track downloads on your how to track pdf downloads from external links. You can use event tracking, or you can create what's known as a virtual pageview.


Event Tracking There are a couple different ways to set up event tracking. Event tracking is critical to understand because it's a fundamental part of Google analytics. Event code looks like this: The event code sends a hit to Google with the category of the event. Interaction Events An interaction event is a true how to track pdf downloads from external links false type of command that exists within the event code.


Automated download tracking Adding event tracking code to one file isn't overly complicated. I love using GTM to track downloads because it's easy to set up. You can configure your trigger using the event tracking templates in GTM. Here's an example of data in Google Analytics from tracking.


But, if for some reason you can't use GTM, there are other options.


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Track PDF Downloads using Google Tag Manager - GTM Part 5

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How to track pdf downloads from external links


how to track pdf downloads from external links

May 18,  · We want to track how many people download a particular document (pdf) on our external facing publishing website. The PDF url is contained within a paper-based invoice they receive in the mail. They then type in the URL to download the PDF brochure. Therefore, they are not clicking a link anywhere on the website but going directly to the PDF. Oct 16,  · Consider a few scenarios: You want to track all clicks from your site to a partner site. You want to create a landing page where clicking on a PDF file is considered a conversion (instead of completing a web form) You want to track all clicks to links on your corporate overview PPT file or PDF data sheet. Assuming you're trying to track usage of the PDF and where that usage is coming from, one easy way to accomplish this is to use DocSend to host the documents. Every time you post the PDF somewhere, DocSend allows you to create a unique link. It'll also track who the visitors are, where they're coming from, how long they look at each page, and more.






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