More and more of our clients are using pdf as well as other media downloads as one of their KPI’s for their Web sites. Downloads of pdf’s such as product catalogue’s, projects the client may be involved in or other specific information is a very valuable additional bit of information when determining the overall performance of a Web site. Especially for those sites that do not ‘sell’ directly online and need a blend of KPI’s.
If you are using Google Analytics tracking clicks on links that lead to file downloads is pretty much straight forward. As there is no code on the pdf page what you do is tag the link that goes to the pdf itself. You use the_trackPageview() JavaScript in the link to the pdf you wish to track. This will assigns a pageview to a click on the link, and therefore the pdf you specify.
If you wish t track every click on a particular link such as www.yoursite.co.uk/catalogue/june2010.pdf as a pageview for/downloads/june-catalogue you would add the following attribute to the link’s <a> tag:
<a href=”www.yoursite.co.uk/catalogue/june2010.pdf” onClick=”javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/downloads/catalogue’); “>
To ensure that _trackPageviewis tracking the information you want check your Top Content report after 24-48 hours after you have installed the link. You should see the assigned pagename in your report.