• majorAlexa

        See all notifications

        Skip to content
        Moz logo Menu open Menu close
        • Products
          • Moz Pro
          • Moz Pro Home
          • Moz Local
          • Moz Local Home
          • STAT
          • Moz API
          • Moz API Home
          • Compare SEO Products
          • Moz Data
        • Free SEO Tools
          • Domain Analysis
          • Keyword Explorer
          • Link Explorer
          • Competitive Research
          • MozBar
          • More Free SEO Tools
        • Learn SEO
          • Beginner's Guide to SEO
          • SEO Learning Center
          • Moz Academy
          • MozCon
          • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
        • Blog
        • Why Moz
          • Digital Marketers
          • Agency Solutions
          • Enterprise Solutions
          • Small Business Solutions
          • The Moz Story
          • New Releases
        • Log in
        • Log out
        • Products
          • Moz Pro

            Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

          • Moz Local

            Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

          • STAT

            SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

          • Moz API

            Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

          • Compare SEO Products

            See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

          • Moz Data

            Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

          Let your business shine with Listings AI
          Moz Local

          Let your business shine with Listings AI

          Learn more
        • Free SEO Tools
          • Domain Analysis

            Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

          • Keyword Explorer

            Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

          • Link Explorer

            Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

          • Competitive Research

            Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

          • MozBar

            See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

          • More Free SEO Tools

            Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

          NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
          Moz Pro

          NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

          Learn more
        • Learn SEO
          • Beginner's Guide to SEO

            The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

          • SEO Learning Center

            Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

          • On-Demand Webinars

            Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

          • How-To Guides

            Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

          • Moz Academy

            Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

          • MozCon

            Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

          Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
          Moz API

          Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

          Find your plan
        • Blog
        • Why Moz
          • Digital Marketers

            Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

          • Small Business Solutions

            Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

          • Agency Solutions

            Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

          • Enterprise Solutions

            Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

          • The Moz Story

            Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

          • New Releases

            Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

          Surface actionable competitive intel
          New Feature

          Surface actionable competitive intel

          Learn More
        • Log in
          • Moz Pro
          • Moz Local
          • Moz Local Dashboard
          • Moz API
          • Moz API Dashboard
          • Moz Academy
        • Avatar
          • Moz Home
          • Notifications
          • Account & Billing
          • Manage Users
          • Community Profile
          • My Q&A
          • My Videos
          • Log Out

        The Moz Q&A Forum

        • Forum
        • Questions
        • My Q&A
        • Users
        • Ask the Community

        Welcome to the Q&A Forum

        Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

        1. Home
        2. SEO Tactics
        3. Reporting & Analytics
        4. Tracking PDF downloads from SERP clicks

        Moz Q&A is closed.

        After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

        Tracking PDF downloads from SERP clicks

        Reporting & Analytics
        3
        6
        1056
        Loading More Posts
        • Watching

          Notify me of new replies.
          Show question in unread.

        • Not Watching

          Do not notify me of new replies.
          Show question in unread if category is not ignored.

        • Ignoring

          Do not notify me of new replies.
          Do not show question in unread.

        • Oldest to Newest
        • Newest to Oldest
        • Most Votes
        Reply
        • Reply as question
        Locked
        This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
        • marshdigitalmarketing
          marshdigitalmarketing last edited by

          For the longest time, our company policy has always been to put PDFs in a secure folder (hence they are not indexed and do not appear in search results). After evaluating this strategy, there has been clamor in recent months to allow Google to index our whitepapers.

          My question: Once PDFs start appearing in search results, what is the best way to start tracking clicks due to these "downloads"?

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • effectdigital
            effectdigital last edited by

            To address the main question (sorry we got a bit off track) - you can set up virtual page-views which fire when links to these PDF URLs are clicked. In some browsers this will trigger a download, in other browsers (like Chrome, which contains a built-in PDF viewer) - unless the site has been coded a certain way, a download may not actually even occur. The PDF may simply open in a new tab, and render as a web page with a full URL

            As such I prefer to use virtual page-views piped to Google Analytics when the links to these documents are clicked, to track their views / downloads (which under normal circumstances, you can't distinguish between those two view types). Even when a PDF is being viewed 'as' a page on your site in a new tab, remember that PDF documents don't support the GA tracking script (so views to those PDF URLs get 'lost' from GA). You need to use virtual page-views, to remedy that

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
            • EGOL
              EGOL @effectdigital last edited by

              You can find lots more discussion of pdf optimization here.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • EGOL
                EGOL last edited by

                I forgot to address the tracking question...  We used to get server logs and run them through WeblogExpert.  You can set it up to track pdf impressions.

                We don't do that any more because we turned off server logs because we felt it might take us out of GDPR compliance.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • effectdigital
                  effectdigital @EGOL last edited by

                  This has actually significantly changed my views on PDF optimisation. I didn't know that they held so much optimisation potential. I have always agreed with allowing them to index, but pushed to have them replaced with pages (which contain optional links / buttons to download the original PDF, for users who prefer that)

                  The sticking point is usually budget. Many clients can't afford the required redesign efforts, so it's good to know that PDFs actually hold (within their native format) some optimisation potential. Thank you EGOL

                  EGOL 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • EGOL
                    EGOL last edited by

                    PDFs can pull in tons of traffic if they have high quality content.  I agree with allowing Google to index them.

                    PDFs can be optimized by editing their properties.  Editing the document title in properties has the optimization power of a <title>tag.</p> <p>It is probably worth the effort to look at the PDFs and plan how you can use them to drive traffic (through links) to relevant pages of your website.  Then if the PDFs get links, some of that power will pass through to the rest of your site. Breadcrumbs in PDFs will weave them into your website architecture.</p> <p>You can also sell ad space in the PDFs or place your own ads in there.  You can also place "buy buttons" in PDFs. </p> <p>There are lots of things that can be done with PDFs that most people have not thought of. </p></title>

                    effectdigital 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • 1 / 1
                    • First post
                      Last post

                    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.

                    • See all categories

                    Related Questions

                    • AndyRCWRCM

                      Change Phone Number Based on Traffic Source + Ping URL for Call Tracking Number

                      Hi Everyone, Is there a tool that can change the phone number on a web page based on the visitor source (i.e., direct, organic, paid, etc.)? I'd like to implement a solution like this with different call tracking numbers based on the visitor source.  We use the Google suite for our analytics (GA, GTM, Google Data Studio, Google Optimize is also an option as well). - Also, is there a good call tracking service that will ping a URL each time the phone number is called so that we can track these calls as events in GA? The majority of our visitors use a desktop PC and dial in the number on the screen rather than clicking (tapping) on it from a mobile device. Thanks, Andy

                      Reporting & Analytics | | AndyRCWRCM
                      0
                    • JabeKay

                      UTM tracking on a mapped subdomain, is it OK? (DA bonus question)

                      Hi, This is a technical question. OK, two technical questions. Please bear with me and I'll do my best to explain... We have a WordPress blog (business account, hosted by WordPress). We use it to blog and send traffic to our separate e-commerce site. We use UTM tracking to see which blog posts perform best. Our e-commerce site has a high domain authority. Our blog, not so much. In an effort to increase the domain authority of the blog we have mapped a subdomain of the e-commerce site to the Wordpress blog (still hosted by WordPress). Q1. Will this actually raise the blog's DA? If the blog does get a DA boost, I guess it'll be because Google now sees it as part of a powerful domain. But if it is technically part of the powerful domain... Q2. Should we remove the UTM parameters from the blog? I've read that you should never use UTM on internal links because it messes with your Google Analytics data. But I'm unsure if links on a mapped subdomain count as 'internal links'. Any help would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks in advance. J

                      Reporting & Analytics | | JabeKay
                      0
                    • SharonEKG

                      Impressions clicks and traffic drop

                      Hello,
                      So something weird is going on, i run a few websites for clients, few different CMS. there has been a constant increase in traffic and ranking on one wordpress website and now the squarespace website is climbing up in rankings in the past few months. both has GTM installed for months, which has been optimized regularly.
                      for the wordpress website, in the past 2 weeks, starting June 4th, on google search console the clicks and impressions has started going down to the point that i lost 90% of clicks and impressions and traffic on analytics has started dropping a few days later, now at about 60% less traffic. for the Squarespace website, exactly the same thing, started June 7th and drop in clicks/impressions (though ranking increase) and then traffic drop. checked both GTM for recent changes incase of wrong code implement, no changes, no new major issues.
                      different hostings different CMS, no link between them.   i just cant put my finger what is going on. anyone got any idea what is going on?

                      Reporting & Analytics | | SharonEKG
                      0
                    • davidwang

                      Lower Impression higher clicks and CTR Compared to Previous Month?

                      I'm looking at our monthly traffic report and noticed that impressions were down in October compared to September but Clicks and CTR increased. I'm thinking it's because certain keyword increased in rank thus increase chances of a click through? Anyone else have any idea? Thank you in advance. Here is the data below: September:
                      Total clicks: 5071
                      Total impressions: 83429
                      Avg. CTR: 6.08%
                      Avg. Position: 28.4 October:
                      Total clicks: 5695
                      Total impressions: 79366
                      Avg. CTR: 7.18%
                      Avg. Position: 28.9

                      Reporting & Analytics | | davidwang
                      0
                    • RosemaryB

                      We have a client that wants to apply UTM URL tagging to track local organic traffic in Google Analytics. Is there any benefit in doing this?

                      One of our clients requested that we apply UTM URL tagging to better track organic traffic in Google Analytics.   We found this to be an odd request because we are most familiar with UTM tracking for special campaigns (referral tracking, PPC, email tracking, etc). Is there any benefit of applying UTM tags to urls to analyze local organic traffic in Google Analytics?  Are there any resources out there about this? Thanks!

                      Reporting & Analytics | | RosemaryB
                      0
                    • NachoRetta

                      In Google Search Console: Total Clicks differ from the sum clicks on search queries

                      Hi.This may be a google technical question, but I've searched a lot and I couldn't find any certain information about that.The problem appears when you look at two stats in Search Console ( WebMasters Tools, some months ago), particulary in the Search Analysis.1- Total clicks2- Sum of clicks at every search query.I attached an image to make me clear.8IZsxs6.png

                      Reporting & Analytics | | NachoRetta
                      2
                    • DanielleNZ

                      Google SERP showing a URL with UTM_source attached - why? Can I stop it?

                      I just found a Google search results page showing a URL with a UTM source tag attached. Any idea how or why this has happened? How can I stop it as I'm guessing this is overwriting my organic visits with referrals from this site. See attached photo for pic of SERP page. The link is going here: http://employment.govt.nz/er/holidaysandleave/parentalleave/?utm_source=newzealandnow.govt.nz 5vxTDTi.png

                      Reporting & Analytics | | DanielleNZ
                      0
                    • ozgeekmum

                      What is best practice for tracking RSS feed subscribers

                      What is the most accurate/achievable way of tracking data about subscribers to your RSS feed through Google Analytics? With standard WordPress sites, we place the RSS  link to Feedburner so we could track statistics. However it wouldn't track the way that I use it. I use Pulse on an Android Tablet to read my feeds offline on the bus each morning. At home, Pulse automatically downloads the latest feeds wirelessly overnight. So then I can read them without a connection. The obvious downside for my reading experience is that I only get what is contained in the feeds. If the company only includes an excerpt, it's too annoying to read the teaser and be unable to connect and follow a link.  So I only subscribe to feeds that contain the full post. Yeah to seomoz, aimclear, SEL, adwordsblog. I  dont subscribe to bruceclays blog, much as i'd like to, because it doesn't contain the full feed. That's probably deliberate on their part, because I have to consciously visit their blog on my desktop at work, to see the whole post. The other problem with say Pulse, is how it locates the feed. I typed in the URL, and Pulse subscribed me. I assume that Pulse simply looked for the domain.com/feed URL and added that, rather than look for feeds2.feedburner.com/domain. I looked at Feedburner stats and they didn't go up for 2 days, so basically it didn't track me. Would it be as simple as using the Google URL builder to add parameters to each post in the RSS feed?   Eg utm_source=feedreader, utm_medium=rss, utm_campaign=tracking. But that still wouldn't track offline users. I assume that most people are also not going to paste the Feedburner URL into their FeedReader, but would let the platform auto-detect the feed. Any suggestions?

                      Reporting & Analytics | | ozgeekmum
                      1

                    Get started with Moz Pro!

                    Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                    Start my free trial
                    Products
                    • Moz Pro
                    • Moz Local
                    • Moz API
                    • Moz Data
                    • STAT
                    • Product Updates
                    Moz Solutions
                    • SMB Solutions
                    • Agency Solutions
                    • Enterprise Solutions
                    • Digital Marketers
                    Free SEO Tools
                    • Domain Authority Checker
                    • Link Explorer
                    • Keyword Explorer
                    • Competitive Research
                    • Brand Authority Checker
                    • Local Citation Checker
                    • MozBar Extension
                    • MozCast
                    Resources
                    • Blog
                    • SEO Learning Center
                    • Help Hub
                    • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                    • How-to Guides
                    • Moz Academy
                    • API Docs
                    About Moz
                    • About
                    • Team
                    • Careers
                    • Contact
                    Why Moz
                    • Case Studies
                    • Testimonials
                    Get Involved
                    • Become an Affiliate
                    • MozCon
                    • Webinars
                    • Practical Marketer Series
                    • MozPod
                    Connect with us

                    Contact the Help team

                    Join our newsletter
                    Moz logo
                    © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                    • Accessibility
                    • Terms of Use
                    • Privacy

                    Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.