How to track clicks on outbound links

Question

[cross-posted on Google Products Forum http://productforums.google.com/d/topic/analytics/ZrB14a-6gqI/discussion ]

I am using the following code at http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/Research/Algorithms/

<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>

which I just copied directly from http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1136920 .

However, it doesn't actually seem to report any clicks on the links where I have added onClick="recordOutboundLink(this, 'Outbound Links', 'Postdoc advert');return false;", for example. I have seen a number of complaints about this online but I haven't found a solution that works.

What am I doing wrong?

P.S. The closest related online complaint seems to be http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/analytics/4oPBJEoZ8s4 which just claims the code is broken.

Answer 1

Here's what I'm using, which has been working for me. I'm using jQuery to add the onclick handler to any link with a class of "referral", but I'd expect adding it directly in the HTML to work as well.

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

---

edit: I believe your syntax for invoking a tracker by name is wrong. Since you aren't using a named tracker when you set up tracking at page load, you shouldn't try to name it later either. See the documentation for _gaq.push.

More precisely:

1. The var myTracker declaration is unused, so you can just delete that line. Variables declared within the scope of recordOutboundLink aren't visible when other functions, such as _gaq.push, are running, so it can't be relevant.
2. You should simply use '_trackEvent' instead of 'myTracker._trackEvent'.

Answer 2

Set a longer timeout 2 seconds maybe, as it takes a certain amout of time for the _gaq.push to actually push to the server, and 100 milliseconds isnt long enough for it to send (the push gets cancelled as soon as the document.location changes). Unless _gaq.push uses a blocking call (doesnt execute the next line till the push is complete), but i dont think that is the case i think most of that uses asynchronous requests.

Answer 3

You can also try this automated external link script