Different ways to monitor clicks on external links

[cross-posted on a Google Products Forum]

Currently, I have implemented the code from this website.

<script type="text/javascript">

  var _gaq = _gaq || [];
  _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXXXX-X']);
  _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

  (function() {
    var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
    ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
  })();

</script>
<script type="text/javascript'>
function recordOutboundLink(link, category, action) {
try {
var myTracker=_gat._getTrackerByName();
_gaq.push(['myTracker._trackEvent', category , action ]);
setTimeout('document.location = "' + link.href + '"', 100)
}catch(err){}
}
</script>

I directly copied this code from here.

However, when I add 

onClick="recordOutboundLink(this, 'Outbound Links', 'Postdoc advert');return false;"
to some links, it doesn't seem to track any clicks. I have searched online for a solution but none of them seem to work.

Can someone point out what mistake I might be making?

P.S. I found a similar complaint online at this forum post, which suggests that the code is malfunctioning.

javascriptgoogle-analytics

Answer №1

Below is the method I have been using successfully. JQuery is used to attach an onclick event to any link with the class "referral". However, adding the handler directly in the HTML should also work.

  $(function() {
    $('.referral').click(function() {
      _gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Referral', 'Click', this.href]);
      setTimeout('document.location = "' + this.href + '"', 100);
      return false;
    });
  });

edit: There seems to be a mistake in your tracker invocation syntax. If you haven't named your tracker when setting up tracking on page load, there's no need to name it later. Refer to the documentation for _gaq.push.

Specifically:

  1. The declaration of var myTracker is unused and can be removed. Variables within the scope of recordOutboundLink are not accessible to other functions like _gaq.push.
  2. Simply use '_trackEvent' instead of 'myTracker._trackEvent'.

Answer №2

For a different option, consider utilizing this self-operated outward link script

Answer №3

To ensure successful data transmission to the server, consider setting a longer timeout of at least 2 seconds for the _gaq.push function. This allows enough time for the push operation to complete before any changes in document location interrupt the process. It is important to note that asynchronous requests are commonly utilized in this context, meaning that a brief delay can prevent the push from being cancelled prematurely.

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