Business Event Tracking Insights:
- A file download is a special case of a business event, because you might access the file locally or externally. Google Analytics supports two methods to track the start of a file download, unfortunately not the completion.
trackPageview:
trackPageview creates a virtual pageview each time a user clicks on a link to a file. Pageviews appear in the Top Content report and can trigger a unique goal conversion, once per session. onclick="_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/downloads/SelectedReadingList.pdf']);" Track file download using trackPageview.
Event Tracking , formerly known as trackEvent:
trackEvent creates a tracking event each time a user clicks on a link to a file. The event appears in the Event Tracking reports but cannot trigger a goal conversion. The number "1" is optional and indicates an integer value of an event. onclick="_gaq.push(['Downloads','PDF', 'SelectedReadingList.pdf',1]);" Track file download using trackEvent Event Tracking.
- Remember to use a pair of single quotes to encapsulate an attribute value nested inside a pair of double quotes.
- Use the View Source (IE) or View Page Source (FF) web browser command to view each demonstration. For example, each resource below demonstrates the use of Event Tracking fka trackEvent to track a clickthrough to an external website.
Business Event Tracking Resources:
Clickstream
Economic Value
Website Optimization
Information
