Standard Analytics cannot see a PDF being opened. Send an event for each click on a PDF link, through Google Tag Manager, then turn the files people open most into proper pages.

The menu nobody counts

For many restaurants the most useful thing on the website is a PDF: the menu. For other businesses it is a price list, a brochure or a booking form.

Analytics reports visits to the page that links to the file. It says nothing about whether anyone opened the file itself.

The reason is simple. The tracking code runs inside web pages, and a PDF is a document, not a page, so opening one records nothing.

What a PDF hides from the reports

The second comes as news to most owners. Google indexes PDFs, so a menu can appear in search results on its own, and someone who taps it goes straight to the file without touching a tracked page.

How events fill the gap

Universal Analytics records events alongside page views: things that happen on a page, such as a click on a link.

Each event carries a category, an action and a label. For downloads, a sensible pattern is Download as the category, PDF as the action and the file's address as the label.

The results appear in the Events reports. Under Top Events, the labels show which files were clicked and how often.

Nothing about the PDFs themselves has to change.

Setting it up in Tag Manager

If the site already uses Google Tag Manager, one trigger covers every PDF link, including files added next year.

Turn on the built-in Click URL variable, create a link click trigger that fires when the Click URL ends in .pdf, and attach a Universal Analytics tag with the track type set to Event.

Tick the option to wait for tags, so the event is sent before the browser leaves for the file, and test in preview mode before publishing.

Without Tag Manager, a line of code can be added to each link by hand. It works, but every new PDF needs the same treatment, and someone always forgets.

The effect on bounce rate

An event counts as an interaction. A visitor who lands on the menu page, opens the PDF and leaves was a bounce yesterday and is not one today.

Nothing about the visit changed, only the counting. Mark the day tracking starts with an annotation, so nobody mistakes the drop for an improvement.

If you prefer the old figure, send the event as a non-interaction hit, and bounce rate carries on as before.

Reading the results

Give it a month, then look at Top Events by label. The order is often not what anyone expected.

Add device as a secondary dimension. A PDF opened mostly on phones is a PDF people are pinching and zooming to read.

File names matter here. A label reading menu-final-v3-new.pdf tells nobody anything, so rename files plainly before tracking begins.

A goal for the file that matters most

If one download signals real interest, such as a catering order form or a price list for trade customers, make it a goal in Analytics.

A goal based on the event, matching its category and label, puts those downloads in the conversion reports beside the contact form.

The file is then counted with the other actions that lead to business, rather than sitting in a separate report nobody opens.

A worked example

A tapas restaurant on a busy street linked four PDFs from its menu page: the food menu, the wine list, a happy hour sheet and a set menu for groups of eight or more.

Analytics showed healthy visits to the menu page and nothing more. The owner assumed the food menu did most of the work.

After a month of event tracking, the group menu was the most opened file, mostly on desktop computers during weekday office hours. People were planning work dinners and birthdays from their desks.

The group menu became a page of its own: the set menus with prices per person, how to reserve, the deposit, and dietary options. A printable PDF stayed, linked from the page.

The questions that used to arrive by phone between lunch and dinner service now have a page to point to.

Turning the popular files into pages

A page beats a PDF on almost every count. It reads properly on a phone, loads faster, carries the site's menu and phone number, and can be updated without anyone exporting a new file.

Google reads a page as part of your site, with your address and hours around it, rather than as a stray document.

Keep the PDF for people who want to print or forward it, and link it from the page with its size: Group menu, PDF, 300 KB.

Old PDFs still in Google

Search Console's Search Analytics report lists PDFs that people reach from Google, alongside ordinary pages. It is one of the few places those visits show up at all.

It often reveals files nobody remembers: a menu from three years ago with old prices, still ranking and still being opened.

Replace an outdated file with the current one at the same address, or remove it and redirect the address to the page that replaced it.

The counter-case

Some documents should stay PDFs: forms to print and sign, technical sheets, contracts and long catalogues. Tracking them still tells you which ones matter.

A site with one PDF and a modest number of visits may know the answer without measuring. Even then the setup takes under an hour, and plainly named files pay off later.

Count the downloads, and let the most opened files earn a page.

From Monday

  1. List every PDF the site links to.
  2. Rename the files plainly before tracking starts.
  3. Add a trigger for clicks on PDF links.
  4. Send each click as an event with the file name.
  5. Annotate the day tracking begins.
  6. Check Search Console for PDFs reached from Google.
  7. Turn the most opened file into a page.

Step six is the one people tend to leave out. Event tracking only sees clicks on your own pages, and visitors who land straight on an old PDF from a search are invisible everywhere else.

Links inside those PDFs, when someone does click back to the site, end up as direct traffic that is not really direct.

Frequently asked questions

Why does Analytics miss PDF downloads?

The tracking code runs inside web pages. A PDF is a document rather than a page, so opening one records nothing unless the click is sent as an event.

What is an event in Analytics?

A record of something that happens on a page, such as a click, with a category, an action and a label. For downloads, the label is the file name.

How do I track every PDF link?

In Google Tag Manager, a link click trigger that fires when the Click URL ends in .pdf, attached to a Universal Analytics event tag, covers every file, including new ones.

Why did my bounce rate drop?

Events count as interactions, so a visitor who opens a PDF no longer counts as a bounce. Annotate the start date, or send the event as a non-interaction hit.

Should my menu be a PDF?

Better as a page, which reads properly on a phone, loads faster and can be updated easily. Keep a PDF version linked from it for printing.

How do I find old PDFs in Google?

Search Console's Search Analytics report lists PDFs people reach from search. Replace outdated files at the same address, or redirect them to the page that replaced them.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Menus and price lists only in PDF?

We can add download tracking this week and tell you which file deserves its own page first.

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