Google analytics how measure download pdf

After this, we can open a page on our site where there is a link to download a PDF file and click on it. Depending on what you are measuring as a conversion , you might want to create a goal if a specific PDF document is downloaded. In this way, you will know which traffic source or campaign generates more PDF downloads and which one is performing worse for this purpose.

With this goal, your PDF download tracking should be ready so the only thing remained to do is to publish the changes in GTM. Now you can start analyzing the newly collected data in the Events reports from your Google Analytics account or you could use a tool like KPIBees to import the data in Google Spreadsheet for a more granular analysis.

If you have any question regarding this tracking, ask us it in the comments below. Google Tag Manager is an excellent resource. Thanks for sharing. This really simplifies things and allows those who are unfamiliar with Tag Manager to really benefit from this valuable resource. If you wish to review the cookies we use please click here. Linkedin-in Twitter. Twitter Linkedin-in Envelope. Contact me for a free and confidential chat. PDF Analytics.

June 19, Table of Contents. Carl Hendy. Share on facebook. Share on twitter. Share on linkedin. Share on whatsapp. While each crumb tells a story, certain actions are more valuable because they signal an intent to eventually buy. The high-value interactions fall into two main categories:. Macro-conversions are easy to measure because they are almost always associated with an exchange of information; an email to a rep, a credit card number, a form submission. In contrast, micro-conversions usually just involve a click or two, so they often go untracked.

It can takes weeks or months of research before potential customers complete a macro-conversion, so manufacturers need to measure micro-conversions in order to properly determine the short-term effectiveness of their digital marketing and web content. If you do, you probably want to track how often your visitors download this content.

Tracking downloads on your website can help you figure what motivates your visitors. It can also help you determine which kind of content upgrades your audience really wants. Depending on your website's setup and your resources, there are a number of options for tracking file downloads.

Let's look at how this tracking works in Google Analytics. Then we'll walk through the options you have available for tracking downloads. We'll start with the easiest solutions, and end with the most difficult. Google Analytics loves to track pageviews. Because web pages execute JavaScript when they load in your browser.

PDFs and other types of downloadable files don't trigger JavaScript. So the standard Google Analytics tracking code does not record file downloads. The same applies to user activity on a web page. If the user's action doesn't trigger your code, Google Analytics won't track it. If you want to track events that don't execute browser-based code, you have to do some extra work.

You have to tell Google Analytics what you want to track, and how to track it. You can put some additional code on your website.

Or you can use a plugin that puts the event tracking code in place for you. Event tracking is critical to understand because it's a fundamental part of Google analytics. Event tracking is how you tell Google Analytics to record user behavior that doesn't automatically trigger your tracking code. Usually, events are actions on the pages of your website. Common examples of events include video views, page scrolling, or file downloads.

The event code sends a hit to Google with the category of the event. It also tells Google the action that occurred and gives that action a label. In the event code, you can also tell Google to assign a value to the event. An interaction event is a true or false type of command that exists within the event code. It tells Google that something did, or did not happen based on the user interacting with your webpage.

Interaction events can be used to track bounce rate more precisely. Non-interaction events don't affect your bounce rate at all. But if you don't want to add code to your files manually, there are automated alternatives.