Track PDF files downloaded from my site
-
I came across this code for tracking PDF files
[1. map.pdf ( name of PDF file ) and files is the folder name. Am i right ?
2. What shall i be able to track using the code given above ?
a ) No. of clicks on links or how many persons downloaded the PDF files ?
3. Where in Google this report will be visible ?
Thanks a lot.](http://www.example.com/files/map.pdf)
-
Hi Atul, Following is the response to your queries. 1). 'Map.pdf' refers to the name of the pdf and 'file' refers to the directory in which it is stored. 2). Using the above code, you would be able to track the click on the links and not the downloads. For setting up event tracking for a pdf download, I would recommend you to place the following code within the code of your download link onClick="_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'download', 'Pdf', 'Mypdfname',, true]);" Thus, the final download link would look like Download PDF Now that you have set up event tracking script in place, you now need to set up the event as a goal in Google Analytics. For that, follow the steps, 1. Open up the profile you wish to set up the goal in. 2. Click the gear icon in the upper right corner of the Google Analytics interface. 3. Click the Goals tab (in the sub-navigation just below where your Profile is listed) 4. Choose the Goal Set you wish to add the event to. 5. Name your goal and select the Event radio button. 6. Populate the following goal details: Category | that matches | download Action | that matches | Pdf Label | that matches | Mypdfname Value | that matches | 7. If you’ve added a Value in step 1, leave the “Use the actual Event Value” radio button selected. 8. Click “Save” and you’re ready to go! Hope, it might help! Cheers!
-
I doesn't. It does you a number of views, because there's a lot different solutions in internet browsers and plugins and user can even view it in Google docs viewer. But for many purposes it is sufficient to know that user view a document.
You can implement dedicated java script tool to know the number of downloads. Probably the code mentioned by nvs.nim (below) realizes such an action.
Good luck
-
Thanks.
Does the code gives me the number of downloads
how many persons have downloaded the PDF file or
how many times PDF file was downloaded.
-
Hi,
ad. 1it's part of url - address of file you have on serwer (to download) obviously it's example you can named it different
ad. 2 it's optional - look to my answer on 31/01
and you can read it on google WT help
Marek
-
Ok. Let me be very specific
You gave me the code -
[1. What does files/map.pdf means ?
2. Is label MyMap necessary or i can omit it
Thanks a lot for your patience :)](http://www.example.com/files/map.pdf)
-
Hi again,
First you should decide about tracking method. Next read Google article and finally ask us a specific not general question. I think it is fair advise
-
I am still not sure about the EXACT code. Can you please give me the code to track how many persons have downloaded PDF files from a site.
I will appeciate greatly
-
Hi Atul,
Did this answer your question, or do you still have questions about this topic?
-
Hi Steve,
Could you please tell me how? What specific technical solution you use?
Thanks, Marek
-
We track our PDF downloads via content. This way, we know how many of each particular one were downloaded.
-
It does not look right cos it was a virtual pageview tracking or mixture of both methods.
_trackPageview() creates a virtual directory structures and _trackEvent() creates an event...
-
Hi,
I think that it's better to use event tracking than virtual page-view tracking.
Syntax and parameters explanation
_trackEvent(category, action, opt_label, opt_value, opt_noninteraction)'```
[]);">Download](#)where: -category (required) - e.g. Maps (The name you supply for the group of objects you want to track.) - action (required) - e.g. Download (A string that is uniquely paired with each category, and commonly used to define the type of user interaction for the web object.) - label (optional) - e.g. EuropeMap or filename map.pdf (An optional string to provide additional dimensions to the event data.) - value (optional) - An integer that you can use to provide numerical data about the user event. It is very complicated to quick explanation and usage, you should read full article and additions like: Implicit Count. - non-interaction (optional) - set it for "true" (A boolean that when set to `true`, indicates that the event hit will not be used in bounce-rate calculation.) In this link you can read full google help article: http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/tracking/eventTrackerGuide.html In your case syntax will be: [](http://www.example.com/files/map.pdf) [Then go to analytics to "Content" section of the reports and view Event Tracking an you will have: category: PDF Action: Download label: MyMap and count .... count how many events you have Wish you a huge number of downloads. M.](http://www.example.com/files/map.pdf)
-
Using this code will track all the files you offer to download: /** * Measuring GA Files */ var extensions = ['pdf','doc','docx','xls','csv','jpg','gif', 'mp3','swf','txt','ppt','zip','gz','dmg','xml']; var download_ga_folder = '/downloads/'; $('a').each(function(){ var _self = $(this); var u = $(this).attr('href'); if(typeof(u) != 'undefined'){ if(u.indexOf("?")!=-1){ uext = u.substring(0, u.lastIndexOf("?")); }else{ uext = u; }; var ext = uext.split('.')[uext.split('.').length - 1]; //check extensions for(i = 0; i < extensions.length; i++){ if(ext == extensions[i]){ _self.click(function(){ pageTracker._trackPageview(download_ga_folder + _self.attr('href')); return false; }); break; }; }; }; });
-
HI Aful,
Your event tracking anatomy does not look righ to me. Go here to see how to structure it correctly:
http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/tracking/eventTrackerGuide.html#AnatomyReagrding where the data should render in Google Anlytics go to Content sub category events ,
Good luck!
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Why would this site outrank a Pr2 site with higher domain authority?
I am trying to get a pr2 site to be on top 7 local spot for the keyword Van Nuys Bail bonds but have discovered a site which has barely any back links and is not even a year old on top results. Their backlinks are from lower authority domains than what we have. How could this site be beating a 7 year old pr2 website? The site I'm working on is http://bbbail.com/ The site that is ranking in 5th spot local with pr0 is http://www.vipbailbonds.org/ is it maybe because it is a .org site? Also I notice that all websites in top spots have www, could that be a factor as well?
Technical SEO | | jesse13410 -
How to link site.com/blog or site.com/blog/
Hello friends, I have a very basic question but I can not find the right answer... I have made my blog linkbuilding using the adress "mysite.com/blog" but now im not sure if is better to do the linkbuilding to "mysite.com**/blog/ "** Is there any diference? Thanks...
Technical SEO | | lans27870 -
Site Wide Links
I have a link on pr 3 home page website placed in the side bar. It is on a WordPress website that spans a couple hundred pages and the side bar is on every page. The majority of the pages are not ranked or have any pr. Can this affect me negatively?
Technical SEO | | raph39880 -
Is there a pinging tool to ping all sites at once
hi, i am just wondering if there is a tool that you can put on your toolbar that allows you to ping all the sites at once. The last thing i want to keep doing is to go through every single one and ping my article. I would like to find a tool that does it all for me, can anyone let me know if there is one out there. many thanks
Technical SEO | | ClaireH-1848860 -
Google Rewriting PDF Titles
Has anyone else noticed Google rewriting the title of PDF documents?
Technical SEO | | waynekolenchuk0 -
Call tracking and Local SEO
I am the in house SEO/Web for a multi-branch/multi-state company and I am having a hard time tracking the amount of calls that are coming off of our site to the many branches. I am wondering if there are any tips for use call tracking numbers without negatively impacting my local SEO results? In one of the webinars they touched on image replacement and also that it some situations it might be out to just use the tracking numbers.
Technical SEO | | mmaes0 -
Canonical on ecommerce site
I have read tons of guides about canonical implementaiton but still am confused about how I should best use it. On my site with tens of thousands of urls and thousands of afiiliates and shopping networks sending traffic, is it smart to simply add the tag to every page and redirect to the same url. In doing this would that solve the problem of a single page having many different entrances with different tracking codes? Is there a better way to handle this? Also is there any potential problems with rolling out the tag to all pages if they are simply refrencing themselves in the tag? Thanks in advance.
Technical SEO | | Gordian0 -
Site Relaunch
Hello, I recently launched my new site (Nov. 25, 2011) but still have the old site live because I still need old customer data from the old admin for customer service issues and I cannot delete the old front-end without deleting the old back-end!. I am seeing a lot of referrals coming from the old site IP address with many backlinks to the new site but dont know if this is actually hurting the new site due to duplicate content, ect .. Any input would be greatly aaaaaapreciated 😉 Thanks in advance, Byron-
Technical SEO | | k9byron0