Outbound links not tracking?

  • simebern

    (@simebern)


    11 years, 3 months ago

    I’ve installed your plugin on a number of sites over the last month or so. I have updated the plugin each time you’ve released a new update so all sites are running the latest version. However, for some reason I don’t appear to be tracking any outbound links at all on any website using the plugin. I have turned ‘on’ track downloads etc under events tracking but am I missing something? Do I need to turn on ‘track affiliate links’ and add a regex that matches my outbound links (ie – /bookings/) for example?

    https://ww.wp.xz.cn/plugins/google-analytics-dashboard-for-wp/

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Alin Marcu

    (@deconf)

    11 years, 3 months ago

    An outbound link is a link pointing to a different domain, your /bookings/ looks like being a subdirectory under the same domain.

    For example:

    Here’s how you do tracking with Google Analytics Dashboard for WP

    In this case how you do tracking it’s an outbound link for ww.wp.xz.cn because it points to a different domain, namely deconf.com.

    Thread Starter simebern

    (@simebern)

    11 years, 3 months ago

    Thanks for your prompt reply Alin.
    In the example I used (/bookings/), this is actually a redirect URL through to an external page. However, each site is setup a little differently depending on the outbound page being linked to. In most cases it simply links directly to the outbound page. When using my old Google Analytics plugin, these outbound links were tracked, and I could easily see them listed in the analytics data. However, since using your plugin none of these outgoing links are showing in ‘top pages’ in Google Analytics.
    Please let me know if I can contact you directly to explain?

    Alin Marcu

    (@deconf)

    11 years, 3 months ago

    I’ve got it, you’ll need to enable track affiliate links matching this regex and replace /out/ with /bookings/.

    You’ll be able to see the reports in your Google Analytics account under Behavior -> Events.

    I think some plugins are using virtual pageviews to track such events, but in GADWP all actions from outbound links, downloads to in-page hashmarks are regarded as events.

    I think Google explains better why is not recommended to use virtual pageviews in such cases: https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/asyncMigrationExamples#VirtualPageviews

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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