Google Analytics file tracking

Question

I'm using Google Analytics to track my pages, and I've added, last week, this code which I've found to try to track my PDF downloads, but this doesn't work :

Link to PDF :

<a href="pdf/my-pdf.pdf"
    onClick="javascript:pageTracker._trackEvent('PDF','Download','My New PDF');
    void(0);">
        PDF
</a>

GA Tracking Code (minified) :

var _gaq=[['_setAccount','UA-XXXXXXXX-XX'],['_trackPageview']];
(function(d,t){var g=d.createElement(t),s=d.getElementsByTagName(t)[0];
g.src=('https:'==location.protocol?'//ssl':'//www')+'.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
s.parentNode.insertBefore(g,s)}(document,'script')); 

Of course, I changed my UA Values for the same of this post.

How can I edit this to allow for file download tracking ?

---

Edit

<a href="pdf/my-pdf.pdf" target="_blank" onclick="trackLink(event);">PDF</a>

function trackLink(e)
{
    e.preventDefault();
    _gaq.push(['_trackEvent','Download','PDF', e.target.href]); 
    window.setTimeout('location.href="'+e.target.href+'"',100); 
    return false;
}

var _gaq=[['_setAccount','UA-XXXXXXXX-XX'],['_trackPageview']];
(function(d,t){var g=d.createElement(t),s=d.getElementsByTagName(t)[0];
g.src=('https:'==location.protocol?'//ssl':'//www')+'.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
s.parentNode.insertBefore(g,s)}(document,'script')); 

Note: XX's have been added for the purpose of the post and are not in the actual code.

Answer 1

Okay so a couple things here. Firstly, as gerl pointed out, you are using the wrong GA syntax for the version of the core code you have. So you need to fix your code according to that answer, regardless. But there is another issue to consider: timing.

First, more often than not, the GA code isn't going to have enough time to execute, before the browser redirects to the target URL. There are 2 ways you can get around this: force a timeout of ~100ms before redirect, or make your pdf open up in a separate tab/window.

Personally, I think the latter is a better solution. Since the pdf is loaded into a separate window, you don't need to worry about delaying the redirect to give GA a chance to execute. Also, most people prefer things like pdfs to open up in a separate tab/window, so that they aren't taken away from the page they are on. To do this, add a `target='_blank' to the link:

<a href="pdf/my-pdf.pdf" onclick="_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','Download','PDF', 'pdf/my-pdf.pdf']);" target="_blank">PDF</a>

But if you really want to stick with having the pdf open in the same window/tab, then you will need to force a timeout. I don't like this option as much as the first, because what ~100ms is usually enough time to wait, it's not a guarantee that it's enough time. You can increase the timeout, but the more you do, the longer the visitor has to wait before the redirect occurs, which makes for a bad user experience. But this is one way you could do it:

<a href="pdf/my-pdf.pdf" onclick="trackLink(event);">PDF</a>

<script type="text/javascript">
  function trackLink(e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    _gaq.push(['_trackEvent','Download','PDF', e.target.href]); 
    window.setTimeout('location.href="'+e.target.href+'"',100); 
    return false;
  }

var _gaq=[['_setAccount','UA-XXXXXXXX-XX'],['_trackPageview']];
(function(d,t){var g=d.createElement(t),s=d.getElementsByTagName(t)[0];
g.src=('https:'==location.protocol?'//ssl':'//www')+'.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
s.parentNode.insertBefore(g,s)}(document,'script')); 
</script>

Also note that if you upgrade to universal analytics, that version has timeout/callback funcationality built in to link tracking (that article talks about outbound link tracking but the principle of using the callback function to do the redirect is the same).