Subdomain pdfs - do you track them?
-
We've enabled event tracking to monitor clicks to pdfs on our website. All of these pdfs are hosted in a subdomain.
The thing is, we offer some valuable pdfs that get a lot of traffic from search engines but I can't track them on Google Analytics. Do you track such pdfs?
I can't place tracking code as they are pdfs on a subdomain.
Thoughts?
-
No problem
-
Do you have your Google Analytics configured to track data across your domain and subdomain? The default analytics code is set up to track data for a single domain. To manage tracking data on both the domain and subdomain, you need to modify your analytics code.
Once you have your analytics configured to track both the domain and subdomain, you "should" be able to setup event tracking to keep track of downloads.
I hope this helps.
Mike
-
Thank you!
-
There is a solution for this by using server-side PHP tracking to monitor your PDFs, even when they're on subdomains - here's an awesome tutorial that shows you exactly how to do it - http://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2013/06/04/tracking-pdfs-google-analytics-server-side/
Hope that helped
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How to prevent development website subdomain from being indexed?
Hello awesome MOZ Community! Our development team uses a sub-domain "dev.example.com" for our SEO clients' websites. This allows changes to be made to the dev site (U/X changes, forms testing, etc.) for client approval and testing. An embarrassing discovery was made. Naturally, when you run a "site:example.com" the "dev.example.com" is being indexed. We don't want our clients websites to get penalized or lose killer SERPs because of duplicate content. The solution that is being implemented is to edit the robots.txt file and block the dev site from being indexed by search engines. My questions is, does anyone in the MOZ Community disagree with this solution? Can you recommend another solution? Would you advise against using the sub-domain "dev." for live and ongoing development websites? Thanks!
Web Design | | SproutDigital0 -
Why use a wwwP subdomain naming convention
While working through a series of crawl reports and competitive insights for a site, I noticed one of the competitors had switched from a WWW-version to a wwwP-version. Looking back at the snapshot I took of this during the same time period in 2014, I noticed a significant drop in PA/DA by 20+/-. I'm curious to know if anybody else has experienced something similar, and if anybody can provide insights on why a change like this would even be made? I'll preface it with, everything we could see that this competitor was doing from the outside, was legitimate and propelling them in a positive direction.
Web Design | | dodgejd0 -
HTTPS redirecting to subdomain; do I need to 301 to HTTP first?
Hello there, quick question on HTTPS downgrade to HTTP. Originally, full site was HTTPS. Redesign eliminated need for secure layer. Site currently has https 301'd to sub.domain.com. Ideally, site would live at domain.com, but with the old site having been indexed https, the security warning triggers when you visit, hence the 301 to a subdomain. Thinking possible solutions here are to a) add back in secure layer or b) 301 all old https pages to new http pages. Have I overlooked something? With (a), I will see no SEO impact, correct? With (b), can I expect impact similar to a relaunch? Have seen a lot of chatter that there is some impact in switching http to https, but not much the other way. Any help much appreciated!
Web Design | | alimo0 -
Mobile subdomain?
Hi, We are setting up our mobile website. Should we use a Subdomain ie m.mysite.com or should we display different content under the same domain? We are worried that we are stripping out some content and images from the mobile version that could adversly affect our SEO. Thankyou
Web Design | | ryanryan0 -
Best way to move blog from subdomain to folder?
Hey all, Our company has 4 product websites, and each has its own separate blog. They are currently set up as subdomain blogs (blog.company.com) hosted on wordpress.com, but I would like to transition them over to root folders (company.com/blog) in order to improve accessibility and SEO. What is the best way to go about doing this? Should I continue to host the blogs on wordpress or are there better options? Would I migrate the blog posts over or just redirect? I'd like to get a general framework/plan of action going in order to know what to expect. Thanks!
Web Design | | kslusarski0 -
Best Way to Remove Mutltiple XML Sitemaps From Multiple Subdomains
Just found a series of of XML sitemaps hosted like so: http://www.thesite.anothersite.com/sitemap.xml and defaulted to remove and 301 redirect but as this is the first time I've encountered an issue like this, an outside opinion or two would be much appreciated. Is the 301 the best option, should I 404 them or what?
Web Design | | ePageCity0 -
Technical SEO Question about TLD combined with SubDomain
I am making a new website but need to figure out the best way to do this in terms of SEO. I would like the website to have functionality of brochure website combined with an online store. My issue is that I will be using software called prestashop for my online store and CMS called MODx to develop my brochure site. (These can not be combined into one CMS). I can create brochure site with MOdx = www.example.com & then from that a subdomain using prestashop for my online store = store.example.com Can I get Google to index these as one site or would I be better off trying to get everything under the TLD. Ideally I would like just one site without subdomain Bacially what I am asking is... What are the effects of having subdomains in terms of SEO? Am I better of having everyhitng under TLD? Can I get Google to view TLD and Sub as one site? Hope this makes sense, thank you.
Web Design | | Socialdude0 -
Are Subdomains Beneficial?
Are subdomains beneficial? I have a client with 4 stores. As it stands, they use one domain, www.mainpage.com/store1, www.mainpage.com/store2, etc. Are there any big benefits to making these subdomains like store1.mainpage.com, store2.mainpage.com?
Web Design | | eldoradoseo0